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. F.'ZSENTED L'jjj 
JUrCIT snu L’.'.i. ki^it ii- 

VVA^figiGTON, D, C. 

- 1031 - 


TONGUE OF FIRE 


OR, THE 

TRUE POWER OF CHRISTIANITY. 


BY 

WILLIAM ARTHUR, A.M., 

•* 

ADTHOB of “the successful meeohaht," etc. 


NEW YORK: 

IIARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
FRANKLIN SQUARE. 

1857 . 


A 














i 





Gift from 

Judge and Mrs. Isaac R. Hitt 

Nov. 17, 1931 

< 

c c 
« * 

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/ !/V3 


X 


£ 

THIS VOLUME 


3 b Inscribed 


TO MY BELOVED AND HONORED TUTOR IN THEOLOGY, 


THE HEY. DOCTOR HANNAH 













































* 








































































































































CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

The Promise of a Baptism of Fire. 1 

CHAPTER II. 

The Waiting for the Fulfillment. 12 

CHAPTER III. 

The Fulfillment of the Promise. 31 

CHAPTER IV. 

Effects which immediately followed the Baptism 

of Fire. 41 

Section I.—Spiritual Effects. 41 

Section II. —Miraculous Effects. 67 

Section III.—Ministerial Effects. 88 

Section IV. —Effects upon the World. 106 

CHAPTER V. 

Permanent Benefits resulting to the Church. 150 

CHAPTER VI. 

Practical Lessons. 297 
































































* 




































. 


. 










































' 

, 






































PREFACE. 

The following pages are the fruit of meditations 
entered upon with the desire to lessen the dis¬ 
tance painfully felt to exist between my own life 
and ministry and those of the primitive Chris¬ 
tians. This fact may, in some measure, account 
for the plan of the work. Many topics which 
would have been fully discussed in a treatise on 
the work of the Holy Spirit, or on the charac¬ 
ter and usages of the primitive Christians, are 
passed by, or very slightly touched: while some 
others have greater prominence than would have 
been given to them in such a work. 

As to the mode of conceiving of events and 
characteristics, nothing has been adopted with¬ 
out deliberation. In several cases I should have 
felt interest in discussing other modes of con¬ 
ceiving them; but this would have diverted me 


VI 


PREFACE. 


from the direct practical aim with which I set 
out. 

The work has been interrupted by travel and 
sickness; and, at one time, seemed likely to 
be cut short by death. Spared to complete it, 
though feeling how far it falls short even of 
my own ideal, I humbly trust it may not be 
useless. 


Kensington, April 1856. 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE PJROMISE OF A BAPTISM OF FIKE. 

When John the Baptist was going round Judea, 
shaking the hearts of the people with a call to re¬ 
pent, they said, “ Surely this must be the Messiah 
for whom we have waited so long.” “!No,” said 
the strong-spoken man, “ I am not the Christ ;* but 
One mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose 
shoes I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize 
you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.”f 

This last expression might have conveyed some 
idea of material burning to any people but Jews; 
but in their minds it would awaken other thoughts. 
It would recall the scenes when their father Abra¬ 
ham asked Him who promised that he should inherit 
the land wherein he was a stranger, “ Lord, whereby 
shall I know that I shall inherit it ?” The answer 

* John i. 20. f Luke iii. 16. 

1 



2 


THE TONGUE OF FIKE. 


came thus: he was standing under the open sky at 
night, watching by cloven sacrifices, when, “behold 
a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed 
between those pieces” of the victims.* It would 
recall the fire which Moses saw in the bush, which 
shone, and awed, and hallowed even the wilderness, 
but did not consume; the fire which came in the 
day of Israel’s deliverance, as a light on their way, 
and continued with them throughout the desert 
journey; the fire which descended on the Tabernacle 
in the day in which it was reared up, and abode upon 
it continually; which shone in the Shekinah; which 
touched the lips of Isaiah; which flamed in the vis¬ 
ions of Ezekiel; and which was yet again promised 
to Zion, not only in her public but in her family 
shrines, when the Lord will create upon every 
dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon all her as¬ 
semblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining 
of a flaming fire by night.” 

In the promise of a baptism of fire they would at 
once recognize the approach of new manifestations 
of the power and presence of God; for that was 
ever the purport of this appearance in “ the days of 
the right hand of the Most High.” 

Among the multitude who flocked to John came 
one strange Man, whom he did not altogether know; 
yet he knew that He was full of grace and wisdom, 
* Gen. xv. It. 


THE PKOMISE OP A BAPTISM OP PIKE. 


3 


and in favor with God and man. He felt that him 
self rather needed to be baptized of one so pure 
than to baptize Him; but he waived his feeling, and 
fulfilled his ministry. As they returned from the 
water side, the heavens opened: a bodily shape, as 
of a dove, came down and rested on the stranger. 
At the same time a voice from the excellent glory 
said, “ This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased: hear ye Him.” 

John said, “I knew Him not: but He that sent 
me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, 
Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, 
and remaining on Him, the same is He which bap- 
tizeth with the Holy Ghost.” Therefore, when he 
saw Him walking, he pointed his own disciples to 
Him, and said, that this was He. They heard the 
word, and pondered. The next day, again, John, 
seeing Him at a distance, said, “ Behold the Lamb 
of God!” How, two of his followers went after 
the stranger, to seek at His hand the baptism which 
John could not give—the baptism of fire. They 
were joined by others. For months, for years, they 
companied with Him. They saw His life: a life as 
of the Only-begotten Son of God. They heard His 
words: such words as “ never man spake.” They 
saw His works: signs, and wonders, and great mira¬ 
cles, before all the people. Yet they received not 
the baptism of fire! 


4 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


He began to speak frequently of His departure 
from them; but his mode of describing it was 
strange. He was to leave them, and yet not to for¬ 
sake them; to go away, and yet to be with them; 
to go, and yet to come to them. They were to be 
deprived of Him their Head, yet orphans they 
should not be. Another was to come, yet not an¬ 
other ; a Comforter from the Father, from Himself; 
whom, not as in His case, the world could neither 
know nor see , but whom they should lenow , though 
they could not see .* His own presence with them 
was a privilege which no tongue could worthily tell. 
Blessed were their eyes for what they saw, and 
their ears for what they heard. Better still than 
even this was to be the presence of the Holy Ghost, 
who would follow Him as He had followed John. 

“ I tell you the truth,” He said, when about to 
utter what was hard to believe: “ I tell you the 
truth; It is expedient for you that I go away.” 
How could it be expedient? Would they not be 
losers to an extent which no man could reckon ? 
The light of His countenance, the blessing of His 
words, the purity of His presence, the influence of 
His example, all to be removed; and this expedient 
for them ! “ It is expedient for you that I go away : 
for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come 
unto you.” Well, but would they not be better 
* John xiv. 11. 


THE PROMISE OF A BAPTISM OF FIRE. 


5 


with Himself than with the Comforter? No; just 
the contrary. They would he better with the Com¬ 
forter : He would lead them into all truth; whereas 
now they are constantly misapplying the plain words 
of Christ. He would bring all things to their re¬ 
membrance ; whereas now they often forget in a day 
or two the most remarkable teaching, or the most 
amazing miracles. He would take the things of 
Christ, the things of the Father, and reveal them 
unto them; whereas now they constantly misappre¬ 
hended His relation to the Father, and that of the 
Father to Him, misapprehended His person, His 
mission, and His kingdom. Again, He would con¬ 
vince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of 
judgment to come; and this is not as one teacher 
limited by a local personality, hut as a Spirit dif¬ 
fused abroad throughout the earth. And He would 
abide with them forever , not for “ a little while.” 
Whatever, therefore, Christ’s personal presence and 
teaching had been to them, the presence of the 
Spirit would he more. 

Having thus strongly pre-occupied their minds 
with the hope ef a greater joy than even His own 
countenance, the Master laid down His life. Stun¬ 
ned, dispersed, and desolate, they felt themselves 
orphans indeed. Their Master ignominiously exe¬ 
cuted, and neither the word of John nor His own 
word fulfilled: no Comforter, no baptism, no fire! 


0 


THE TOKGTTE OP FIRE. 


Soon He re-appeared, and, as they were met to* 
gether for the first time since His death, once more 
stood in the midst of them. He breathed upon 
them, and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” 
With that word, doubtless, both peace and power 
were given; yet it was not the baptism of fire. 
During forty days he conversed with them on the 
things pertaining to the kingdom of God; assign¬ 
ing to them the work of proclaiming and establish¬ 
ing that kingdom to the ends of the earth. One 
injunction, however, He laid upon them, which 
seemed to defer the effect of others. They were to 
go into all the world, yet not at once, or uncondi¬ 
tionally. “Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem till 
ye be endued with power from on high.” Appa¬ 
rently more ready to interpret “ power” as referring 
to the hopes of their nation than to the kingdom of 
grace, they asked, “ Lord, wilt Thou at this time 
restore again the kingdom to Israel ?”* 

He had said nothing of a kingdom for Israel, or 
in Israel. His speech had been on a higher theme, 
and of a wider field: namely, “ that repentance and 
remission of sins should be preached in His name 
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And 
ye are witnesses of these things.” Such, in various 
forms, are the words we find him uttering concern¬ 
ing His kingdom during these forty days. When, 
* Acta i. 6. 


THE PROMISE OP A BAPTISM OP PIRE. 7 

therefore, they asked if He would at this time re¬ 
store again the kingdom to Israel, He shortly turned 
aside their curiosity. What the Father’s designs 
were as to Israel nationally; what the times when 
they might again he a kingdom—were points not 
for them. They had better work, and nearer at 
hand. “ It is not for you to know the times or the 
seasons, which the Father hath put in His own 
power.”* “ But,” He continued, passing at once 
from curious questions about the future of Israel, 
and unfulfilled prophecy, to His own grand king¬ 
dom : “ But ye shall receive power, after that the 
Holy Ghost is come upon you.” What power ? of 
princes, or magistrates ? Nay, quite another power, 
for an unearthly work: “ And ye shall be witnesses 
unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and 
in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the 
earth.” 

In these words He traces the circles in whicl 
Christian sympathy and activity should ever run: 
first, Jerusalem, their chief city; next, Judea, their 
native land; then Samaria, a neighboring country, 
inhabited by a race nationally detested by their 
countrymen; and finally “the uttermost parts of 
the earth.” They were neither to seek distant 
spheres first, nor to confine themselves always at 
home; but to carry the Gospel into all the world 
* Acts i. 7. 


8 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


as each country could be reached. This was what 
He had before placed in their view—the filling all 
the earth with the news of grace, news that repent¬ 
ance and pardon were opened to men by the power 
of His atonement. We have no hint that He ever 
spake , during the forty days , of other kingdom , 
royalty , or reign. Hot to rule over cities; not to 
speculate on the designs of the Father and the des¬ 
tinies of the Jew; but to go into the whole world, 
tell every creature the story of Christ, was to be 
their princely work. To found a kingdom not over 
men’s persons, but “ within” their souls; a kingdom 
not of provinces, but of “ righteousness, and peace, 
and joy in the Holy Ghost;” a kingdom to be 
spread not by the arms of a second Joshua, but by 
the “ witness” of the human voice; a kingdom, the 
power of which would not lie in force or policy, or 
signs observed in heaven, but in a spiritual power 
imparted by the Holy Ghost, and operating in super¬ 
human utterance of heavenly truth; this was their 
embassy. For this were they to be endued with 
power from on high. But when was this power, so 
long spoken of, to come? Would John’s word 
ever be fulfilled ? The Master has not forgotten it. 
“John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be 
baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” 
At length the promise is brought to a point, and its 
fulfillment near. 


THE PEOMISE OP A BAPTISM OF FIBE. 9 

Already had He proclaimed Himself King, and 
marked out the ministers and army, the weapon, 
the extent, the badge of citizenship, the statute 
law, the royal glory, and the duration of His king¬ 
dom. With His disciples around Him, standing on 
a mountain top, heaven above and earth below, He 
thus proclaimed His kingdom: “ All power is given 
to Me in heaven and in earth:” here was the King. 
“ Go here were the ministers and army—an em¬ 
bassy of peace. “ Teach :” here the weapon—the 
word of God. “All nations:” here the extent. 
“ Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” here the 
badge of citizenship. “ Teaching them to observe 
all things whatsoever I have commanded you:” 
here the statute law. “ And, lo, I am with you:” 
here the royal presence and glory of the kingdom. 
“Always, unto the end of the world:” here its 
duration.* How again He is rising a hill, convers¬ 
ing with those who had heard this proclamation, as 
to their part in the establishment of the kingdom. 
He has clearly promised that, before many days, 
the long looked-for baptism of fire will come. 
That implies, that before many days He will de¬ 
part ; for He ever said that He must first ascend. 
He has answered, or rather rebuked, their curious 
inquiry as to Israel; has turned their thoughts 
* Matt, xxyiii. 19, 20. 


10 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


again to the descent of the Spirit; and is just tell¬ 
ing them that, endued with this new power, they 
shall hear witness to His glory not only at home 
but abroad. “ To the uttermost part of the earth,” 
is the last word on His lips*—a startling word for 
His peasant auditors, accustomed to limit their 
range of thought within the Holy Land. But 
He had already said that all power was given to 
Him “ in heaven and in earth.” Hid not the faith 
of some disciple reel under the wuighfc of these 
words ? 

“ In Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, 

and to THE UTTERMOST PART OF THE EARTH!” 

This word is on His lips; they are steadily watch¬ 
ing Him: He lifts His hands, He pronounces His 
blessing; and in the actf lo, His body, which they 
know “ has flesh and bones” like their own, begins 
to rise! Ho wing, no hand, no chariot of fire! 
Upward it moves by its own power; and in that 
single action commands the homage of earth: for 
our globe has no law so universal and irreversible 
as that whereby it binds down all ponderous bodies 
to its surface. Here this law gives way, and there¬ 
by the whole mass of the globe yields to the powei 
of Christ. This placid movement of that body, up 
from the surface of earth into the heights of the 
sky, is an open act of sovereignty over the highest 
* Acts i. 8. f Luke xxiv. 50. 


THE PROMISE OF <A BAPTISM OF FIRE. 11 

physical law; whereby Christ “manifested forth 
His glory,” as Lord and Maker of all physical laws. 
His proclamation of kingship is thus acknowledged 
by earth with its highest homage. How the 
heaven adds its homage, stoops in luminous cloud, 
and robes Him for His enthronement. The ever 
lasting doors lift up their heads. The King of 
Glory enters in. The First-begotten from the 
dead, the Prince of the Kings of the earth, sits 
down with the Father on His throne; and from 
Him receives the word, “ Thy throne, O God, is 
forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the 
scepter of Thy kingdom!” And again, “ Let all 
the angels of God worship Him.” Within the vail 
they worship the Lamb ; and down they speed to 
His followers, and tell them that they need not 
gaze. As they have seen Him go, so shall they see 
Him come, even in the clouds, to judge that world, 
of which and of its Princes He is King. Thus 
triply is His kingship owned. Earth permits 
Him to rise, heaven bows, the angels add their 
testimony. All things own Him. Unbelief is 
now impossible. Doubt vanishes away. His word 
shall not pass unfulfilled. The baptism of fire is at 
hand. 


CHAPTER II. 


THE WAITING FOR THE FULFILLMENT. 

It is on Thursday, probably in the evening, that 
the disciples return to Jerusalem. Their Master 
is no more at their head—indeed, no more on 
earth; and as yet His great promise is unfulfilled. 
But the scene of the ascension is in their eye ; the 
voice of angels in their ear. Jesus is King of 
kings, and Lord of lords. The Comforter is 
coming “ not many days hence.” Hot with doubt- 
ing or weeping do they enter the city, but with 
“ great joy;” the joy of a triumph already sealed, 
and of hope foreseeing triumphs to come. Most 
probably that joy carries their first steps to the 
temple.* Oft had they entered it with Him, but 
never so triumphantly as now. There they are, 
not mourning the absence of their Master, but 
“ praising and blessing God.” Thence they go to 
“ an upper room.” We know not in what street, 
* Luke xxiv. 53. 


THE WAITING FOE THE FULFILLMENT. 


13 


or on what site; but there c '* abode” a few men 
whose names were not then great, but whose 
names will never more pass from the memory of 
mankind. With them abode also a few women, 
who had loved their Lord ; and for the last time 
“ Mary the mother of Jesus” is named as one of 
the little company. Men and women, they now 
began to pray, and they “ continued with one 
accord in prayer and supplication,” for the baptism 
of fire. 

Did they expect to receive it that very night ? 
This we know not; but we do know that then 
opened a new era in the intercourse of man with 
heaven. As they began to pray, how would they 
find all their conceptions of the Majesty on high 
changed! It no longer spread before and beyond 
the soul’s eyesight, as an unvaried infinity of glory 
incomprehensible. The glory was brighter, the in¬ 
comprehensibility remained; but the infinity had 
now received a centre. Every beam of the glory 
converged toward the person of “ God manifest in 
the flesh,” now “ received up into heaven:” the 
glory not dissolving the person in its own tide, the 
person not dimming the glory by any shade, 
though appearing through it as the sun’s body 
through the light. Perhaps, indeed, the change 
was such to their view, as would have struck the 
eye of an observer of nature, had one lived on our 


14 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


planet at the time when the sun was first set in the 
firmament. The light which before had been a 
wide and level mystery, now had to his eye a law, 
a centre, and a spring. The indistinct view of a 
material form amid the seemingly spiritual glory, 
gave the feeling that some body akin to our own 
globe lay at the center of illumination. This body 
was not the cause of the light, not even of the same 
nature, but around the body the “ exceeding weight 
of glory” seemed to hang. 

O to feel as felt that heart which first discerned 
human nature, in the person of Him who had been 
“ so marred,” set down on the right hand of the 
Majesty on high!” The glory of the Father en- 
compasing a human form, and beaming from a 
human brow! “ If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, 

because I said, I go unto the Father ; for My 
Father is greater than I”—was the word of Jesus. 
How that they had seen Him pass within the vail; 
seen the ushering angels attend His entrance, and 
heard the music of their voices; they would not 
feel as if He had forsaken them, but as they had 
often felt when the High Priest passed from their 
view into the holiest, bearing the blood of atone¬ 
ment, to stand before the Presence. “ He is out 
of sight, but there before the Lord.” The first 
thought would be one of joy for Him. Peter! 
how did thy breast heave when first thou didst be- 


THE WAITING FOR THE FULFILLMENT. 


15 


hold, by faith clear as sight, that countenance 
which had looked round upon thee from the bar, 
now looking down upon thee from the high and 
lofty throne! Mary Magdalena, who wast bent 
under the sevenfold power of the devil when first 
that face beamed on thee, who didst fall at His feet 
when, just arisen from the dead, He first appeared 
to thee! what was the flow of thy tears, what the 
odor of thy joy, when the full truth burst on thy 
view, that He had “ overcome, and was set down 
with the Father on His throne !” And thou, John! 
what felt thy bosom when He on whose bosom thine 
own head had leaned, appeared to thy mind no 
more with such as thee; but, as “ in the beginning, 
with God?” And thou, too, Mary the blessed, 
through whose soul the sword had gone ! how did 
thy “ soul magnify the Lord !” how did thy “ spirit 
rejoice in God thy Saviour,” when thy meek eye 
saw the infinite accomplishment of Gabriel’s word, 
He shall be Great / 

Mingling with this first joy for the Master’s 
exaltation, and presently rising to the surface and 
overspreading all their emotions, would be the feel¬ 
ing, “ He has entered for us within the vail! He 
bears our names upon His heart for a memorial 
before the Lord! He maketh intercession for us!” 
—Tush ! which of the twelve is it that starts up as 
if a spirit had entered him, and, pointing upward, 


16 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


says to the Brethren ?—-“ Let us ask the Father in 
His name ! He said to us, c Whatsoever ye shall 
ask the Father in My name , He will give it to 
you. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in My name: 
ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy maybe full . 5 ”* 
The angels had often sung together when the 
prayer of repenting sinners was heard on high. 
How, for the first time, they hear prayers from 
human lips rising to the Throne authorized and ac¬ 
credited by the name of the Only-begotten of the 
Father. That name has just been set “ above 
every name:” and as it echoes through the host 
above, with the solemn joy of a hundred believing 
voices, “ things in heaven” bow. Be man ever so 
unworthy, “ worthy is the Lamb;” and His name 
covers with justice every request to which it is set 
by His authority. What must have been that 
moment for the saints in Paradise, who had seen 
the Saviour afar off, but never known the joy of 
praying directly in His name! Father Abraham 
had “ rejoiced to see His day; and he saw it and 
was glad.” What would be his gladness now, that 
earth and heaven were rejoicing in His name ! 
David, to whom He was at once Lord and Son— 
what would be “ the things” which in that wonder¬ 
ful moment his tongue would speak “ touching the 
King?” 


John xvi. 23, 24.. 


THE WAITING FOR THE FULFILLMENT. I? 

From the hour that sin entered into the world, 
the Just One had never given man audience on 
terms fit only for the innocent. An upright inferior 
may approach Majesty, not without reverence, but 
without shame or atonement. The admission of a 
criminal on the same footing would be wrong. 
Right in our governments is the imperfect reflec¬ 
tion of a perfect right. Had the favor of the Al¬ 
mighty crossed the line which divides innocence 
from guilt, and smiled upon the latter, that smile 
would have been a scathing flash, wherein all 
morals would have blackened. Sinful man had not 
been hopelessly banished from the presence of God; 
but he had ever been taught to come displaying a 
sign of wrath, of death, which is the wages of sin; 
thus declaring to the universe that he appealed not 
to a justice which had never been offended ; but to 
a justice which had been satisfied. 

The altar had been the Patriarch’s place of 
prayer. The temple, where was the perpetual 
offering, had been the center to which every pray¬ 
ing Israelite turned. To approach the Eternal 
Godhead as if no evil had been done, and no stroke 
merited, was never yet the privilege of a creature 
who had done wrong. It was wonderful, yea, 
mysterious, that such could be allowed to approach 
at all; but the Lord would ever justify His permis¬ 
sion, by demanding clear and express reference to 
2 


18 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


that propitiation, which He has set forth to de. 
clare His own righteousness, in that marvelous 
act of lifting the guilty into the mansions of the 
good. 

How great the transition from these symbols of 
the Atonement to the full view of its reality! 
During the forty days Jesus had opened their 
understanding, pointed out to them the Scriptures 
which bore upon His death, and showed its con¬ 
nection with remission of sins for mankind. They 
now looked no more to temple or to altar. They 
had before them the true sacrifice completed. He 
had “ purged their sins,” and, in the same body 
wherein He had done so, was standing before the 
Father. 

He had given them authority to use his name. 
With that name their petitions carried the assent 
of all the rational and moral creation. The eternal 
Father in holding communion with beings who had 
dene wrong, exposed no sinless being to doubts as 
to whether right and wrong were equal. He had 
“ made peace through” Christ’s “ blood,” had thus 
“ reconciled all things to Himself’—to Himself in 
the new and mysterious proceeding of government, 
whereby the doers of wrong were spared the effects 
of wrong-doing. “ For it pleased the Father that 
in Him should all fullness dwell; and, having made 
peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to 


THE WAITING FOR THE FULFILLMENT. 19 

reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, 
whether they be things in earth, or things in 
heaven.”* So that creatures “ in heaven,” all 
whose joy depended on their never doing wrong, 
had no murmur to raise, and no temptation to 
undergo, when they saw creatures “ on earth,” 
who had followed ways which would make any 
world sorrowful, received into the arms of Eternal 
Mercy. The guilty He reconciled by forgiving 
their sin, and recovering their hearts; and the in¬ 
nocent He reconciled to see offenders exalted, by 
“setting forth” so conspicuously that all angels 
desired to look into it, “ a propitiation,” which fully 
“declared His righteousness,” His strict care of 
right; which magnified law, magnified holiness, 
magnified obedience, and, in the act of saving the 
guilty, magnified beyond all previous conception 
the heinousness of guilt. What sense of the dis¬ 
tinction between right and wrong could have been 
maintained among innocent creatures, had they 
seen transgressors raised to favor and honor with¬ 
out atonement ? 

O the joy of that first hour of praying in the 
name of Christ! Was not Martha there? As she 
met the Master on that mournful day, when Lazarus 
lay in the tomb, though despairing, she said, “ But 
I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask 
* Col. i., 19, 20. 


20 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


of God, God will give it thee.” If such was her 
confidence then, what would be her confidence now 
—He asking for her, and she asking in His name ! 
How the souls of the disciples, following Him above 
the sky, would soar, with a new wing, a new eye, 
and a new song! What simple and glowing col¬ 
lects would they be which were uttered then ! 
What words of joy and supplication would he pour 
forth who first bethought him of putting the Lord 
in remembrance of His own promises ! What 
short and burning petitions would go up from the 
lips which first quoted, “ Whatsoever ye shall ask 
the Father in My name, He shall give it you!” 
How would he plead who first remembered, “ Ask 
what ye will, and it shall be done unto you!” How 
would tones of desire and triumph mingle in the 
first repetition of, “All things whatsoever ye ask 
in prayer believing, ye shall receive!” Hone of 
their prayers are recorded. We have ancient col¬ 
lects, and beautifhl they are; but none of these 
most ancient are preserved. The Spirit has not 
seen it good to hand down the strong and tender 
collects of these ten, or of the following days. 
Then surely it is unlawful to impose good forms of 
prayer upon all men because ancient saints wrote 
them. 

He who will never use a form in public prayer, 
casts away the wisdom of the past. He who will 


THE WAITING FOR THE FULFILLMENT. 21 


use only forms, casts away the hope of utterance 
to be given by the Spirit at present, and even 
shuts up the future in the stiff hand of the past. 
Whatever Church forbids a Christian congregation, 
no matter what may be their fears, troubles, joys, 
or special and pressing need, ever to send up 
prayer to God, except in words framed by other 
men in other ages, uses an authority which was 
never delegated. To object to all forms is narrow¬ 
ness. To doom a Christian temple to be a place 
wherein a simple and impromptu cry may never 
arise to heaven, is superstition. 

Does any one of the hundred and twenty, even 
in paradise, up to this moment forget the hour of 
prayer that Thursday night, after they had returned 
from Olivet ? 

The Friday morning dawns. It was on Friday 
the Lord had died. Would He not send His prom¬ 
ised substitute to-day? O how His cross would 
all day long stand before the eye of every disciple ! 
How came back all His words about the death 
“which He should accomplish; 5 ’ from the night 
when He told Hicodemus that, as the serpent had 
been lifted up, so must He, up to the night in which 
He said, u The hour is come”—words dark at the 
time, but pointed to-day as the steel of arrows. 
What had been mystery, was mystery no longer. 



22 


THE TONGUE OP PIKE. 


Now the only mystery was, “What manner of 
love!” Was it on that day that John’s fiery heart— 
the heart which had rebuked the man who followed 
not them, which wished to burn the inhospitable 
villagers, and to be, with his brother, head of all 
—was it then this heart fully embraced the mean¬ 
ing of the agony witnessed by him so close at 
hand, as compared with the others, and written 
upon it forever?* Was it then it first saw all 
the import of the words, “ God so loved the 
world, that He gave His Only-begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, 
but have everlasting life ?” and that the “ son 
of thunder” was transformed into the child of 
charity ? 

Never before had the thought of man alternated 
between two such scenes, as those which divided 
the eye of every soul in that praying company: a 
cross, a drooping head, hands bleeding, feet bleed¬ 
ing, heaven black, thieves on either side, gibes be¬ 
low ; and a preternatural sorrow on the soul of the 
sufferer, which cast over the whole an infinite dread¬ 
fulness. On this the eye looks one moment, and 
weeps. Then a throne, high and lifted up; the 
glory of the Lord; angels bowing; angels singing; 
saints with palm, and harp, and voice acclaiming; 
and in the center of all might, majesty, and domin¬ 
ion, the crucified, body, living, but with its wounds, 


THE WAITING FOR THE FULFILLMENT. 


23 


“ as slain.” On this the same eye looks, and weeps 
again. O for the feelings of that day! 

Yet the Friday wears away, and no “baptism of 
fire!” The Saturday sets in; its hours are filled up 
as before with prayyer; but no answer. And now 
dawns the first day of the week, the day whereon 
He rose, the first Lord’s day He had passed on His 
throne of glory. How did they spend that day ? 
Surely they would fully expect that the blessing 
they sought would be delayed no longer. He said, 
“Not many days:” this was the fourth day; it 
must come to-day! But the evening steals on, and 
all their prayers might have risen into a Heaven 
that could not hear. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 
pass. Their faith does not fail; still in the temple 
“ praising and blessing G&d,” or in the upper room 
in “ prayer and supplication,” they continue of one 
accord. Though He tarry, yet will they wait for 
Him. 

This is waiting. Some speak of waiting for sal¬ 
vation as if it meant making ourselves at ease, and 
dismissing both effort and anxiety. Who so waits 
for any person or any event ? When waiting, your 
mind is set on a certain point; you can give your¬ 
self to nothing else. You are looking forward, and 
preparing; every moment of delay increases the 
sensitiveness of your mind as to that one thing. A 
servant waiting for his master, a wife waiting for 



24 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


the footstep of her husband, a mother waiting for 
her expected boy, a merchant waiting for his richly- 
laden ship, a sailor waiting for the sight of land, a 
monarch waiting for tidings of the battle: all these 
are cases wherein the mind is set on one object, and 
can not easily give attention to another. 

“ To-morrow will be Thursday, a full week from 
the ascension: that will be the day, the term of the 
promise will not extend further. To-morrow the 
Comforter will come; to-morrow we shall be bap¬ 
tized with fire, and fitted to do the works our Mas¬ 
ter did, £ yea, greater works than these.’ ” So they 
would probably settle it in their mind. The Thurs¬ 
day finds them, as before, tc of one accord in one 
placeno Thomas absent through unbelief. How 
the scene of that day week would return to their 
view! How they would over and over again in 
mind repeat the walk from Jerusalem to Olivet; 
each recalling what He said to the Master, and what 
the Master said to him; each thinking he had got 
such a look as he never got before, and as he should 
not forget so long as he lived! How they would 
repeat the last words! “Ye shall receive power , 
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” In 
the repetition new faith would kindle. “ Yes, we 
shall; let us wait on; we shall c be endued with 
power from on high.’ ” Then another would re¬ 
neat, “And ye shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusa- 


THE WAITING FOR THE FULFILLMENT. 


25 


lem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the 
uttermost parts of the earth.” This was vast lan¬ 
guage for them, whose thoughts were wont to move 
only in the sphere of Palestine. Probably they did 
not so much weigh the import of the terms as look 
at the main promise. They should be endued with 
the power of the Holy Ghost—that power which 
had made Psalmists and Prophets; had rendered 
the words of Elijah stronger than the decrees of 
Ahab, the words of Elisha stronger than the armies 
of Syria, the words of Isaiah as coals from the altar, 
and the words of Daniel mightier than the spitit of' 
a king and “ a thousand of his captains.” Baptized 
with the same Spirit, they were to proclaim what 
these foretold, but never saw: the Child born, the 
Son given, the Prince cut off for sin, but not His 
own, the Lamb on whom were laid the iniquities of 
all. All this they had seen fulfilled in the person of 
their glorious Lord. All this they had heard ex¬ 
plained by His own lips before and after his death. 
They were to go and prove to others, as He had 
proved to them, that “thus it was written, and 
thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again 
the third day; and that repentance and remission 
of sins should be preached in His name among all 
nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” 

Here again they encountered the intimation that 
their message was for all, and their testimony to be 


26 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


borne to the uttermost parts of the earth. Yet still 
it seems not the sphere, but the purport, of their 
commission now occupied their mind. They were 
to go, and as He had preached, so would they, far 
and wide, in cities and villages. In what tones 
would they tell the people that as He used to say to 
those who came to Him, “Be of good cheer, thy 
sins be forgiven thee,” so would He now say from 
Heaven to all who lifted an eye to Him! 

But the day wears on, and no blessing. Is not 
the delay long? “JVot many days!” Does the 
promise hold good ? They must have felt disap¬ 
pointed as the evening fell, and no sign of an an¬ 
swer to their oft-repeated prayer. How is the hour 
of trial. Will their faith fail ? Will some begin to 
forsake the meetings which bring not the baptism 
they seek ? Will some stay at home, or “ go a fish- 
ing,” saying that they will wait the Lord’s time, and 
not be unwarrantably anxious about what, after all, 
does not depend on them, but on the Lord ? Will 
no one say, “We have done our duty, and must 
leave results. We can not command the fulfillment 
of the promise. We have asked for it, asked sin¬ 
cerely, fervently, repeatedly: we can do more ?” 

Or, what is equally probable, will they begin to 
find out that the cause why they remain unblessed, 
and yet “ orphans,” lies in the unfaithfulness of their 
companions ? Happily the spirit of faith and love 


THE WAITING FOR THE FULFILLMENT. 27 

abides upon them. John does not turn upon Peter, 
and say, “ It is your fault; for you denied the Mas¬ 
ter.” Philip does not turn to John and say, “ It is 
your fault; for you and James wanted to lord it 
over us all.” Andrew does not turn to Thomas, and 
say, “ It is your fault; for you would not believe, 
even when we had declared it to you.” The Sev¬ 
enty do not say, “ It is the fault of the Twelve; for, 
after the Lord had lifted them above us all, one of 
them sold Him, another denied Him, and a third 
disbelieved Him.” The Marys do not say, “ It is the 
fault of the whole company, a cold and unfaithful 
company, professing to love the Master to His face, 
but the moment He fell into the hands of His ene¬ 
mies, ye all forsook Him, and fled!” 

Well did they know that they had been slow of 
heart; been unworthy of such a Teacher; often 
grieved Him, and made Him ask, “ How long shall 
I be with you?” John would never forget the re¬ 
buke, “ Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are 
of.” Peter would never forget, the third time, 
“ Lovest Thou Me ?” Philip would never forget, 
“ Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast 
thou not known Me, Philip ?” And surely Thomas 
would never forget, “ Be not faithless, but believ¬ 
ing.” 

Yet they knew He had not come to call the 
righteous, but sinners to repentance. His own lips 


28 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


had said, “ He that is whole hath no need of a phy- 
sicion, but he that is sick.” Had He not taken to 
His bosom the very head whose heats of ambition 
and of^vindictiveness He had rebuked ? Had He 
not said to Peter, “ Feed my lambs ?” Had He not 
said to Thomas, “Reach hither thy hand?” His 
promise was not made because they were a Church 
without spot or wrinkle; but because they were 
feeble, and, deprived of His own presence, would 
be orphans indeed, did no other power cover them. 
He knew every fault with which either of them 
could charge the others; yet the promise had passed 
His lips, and the fire would fall even on them, un¬ 
worthy as they were. Happy for them, that none 
fancied he could fix upon others the cause of their 
unanswered prayers! 

The Thursday is gone; eight days! The Friday 
and the Saturday follow it, marked by the same 
persistency in union, in praise, in prayer, and by the 
same absence of encouragement. Ten days gone ! 
the promise, “ Not many days,” is all but broken. 

Peter was always warm and earnest. A thought 
of his had hardly time to become a thought before 
.t turned into either word or action. When once 
his mind had embraced the glorious idea of stand¬ 
ing up before the world a witness for his ascended 
Master, it would seem as if the whole plan was to 
be carried out in a day. One can not help imagin- 


THE WAITING FOE THE FULFILLMENT. 


29 


ing how he bore the restraint of the ten hats— the 
days of prayer, of belief, of waiting—in which they 
were not permitted to begin their work. 

“ Strange!” we almost hear him say, “ Strange! 
The Lord has died that repentance and remission 
of sins should be preached in His name among all 
nations. He has finished the work, risen from the 
dead, and led captivity captive. The Heavens have 
received Him. The angels proclaim Him. IJs He 
took from our homes; how He taught, and trained, 
and practiced us; all, as we now see, for this work 
of proclaiming His love and the pardon it brings to 
all mankind! Here we are, unfitted for every other 
calling. His commission is to us as a Prophet’s call, 
as a King’s anointing. He said, ‘Go into all the 
world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.’ 
We want to go. Men stand in need: they are dy¬ 
ing daily; dying in unbelief. Why does He not 
permit us to go ? Why is the first command so 
long suspended by the other ? ‘ Tarry ye in the 

city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power 
from on high.’ We have tarried ten days. Why 
does our Master delay? The world needs the 
sound of His Gospel; we are waiting to bear it 
forth. He is exalted at God’s right hand, and all 
power is given unto Him in Heaven and in earth; 
yet does He look down upon the world sleeping a 
sleep unto death, and upon us waiting to blow the 


30 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


trumpet! Is not His instruction, His commission, 
enough? We are ordained, after much teaching: 
may we not go? No; we must abide by His 
word: 4 Tarry until ye be endued with power from 
on high.’ ” 

The final proof given by Peter that he was wait¬ 
ing indeed, making all preparations for the event, 
was in calling upon his brethren to fill up the num¬ 
ber of the Apostles. One had fallen. His place 
was vacant; and another was to take his “ bishop¬ 
ric.” Peter concluded that they were to fill up this 
vacancy, and called upon the company to select two 
men. No one objected that it remained to be seen 
whether they should be endued with power or not. 
All acted as feeling the certainty that the Holy 
Spirit was about to come, and the apostolic com¬ 
mission to be fulfilled to the ends of the earth. 


CHAPTER III. 


THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PKOMISE. 

There was a day when death had struck a woeful 
stroke, and raised a nation’s wail. “ There was a 
great cry in the land of Egypt: for there was not 
a house where there was not one dead.” That same 
day the Lord, by the sprinkling of a pure lamb’s 
blood, averted death from the doors of Israel, and 
then led them away from yoke and task-master 
toward the goodly land. Fifty days afterward they 
reached the Mount of God, where He manifested 
Himself in the thunder of His power, with flame 
and trumpet, and a voice, whereat all the tribes did 
tremble. Then was the new dispensation formally 
inaugurated with the voice and the flame; its cov¬ 
enant sealed by sprinkling of blood, and its privi¬ 
leges opened to the sprinkled by the vision of 
glory, when the Elders “ saw the God of Israel: 
and there was under His feet as it were a paved 
work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body 
of heaven in his clearness.”* 


* Exod. xxiv. 10. 


32 


TQE TONGUE OE EIEE. 


This time of note was come, the fifty days were 
elapsed from the time when the Lamb was slain, and 
captivity broken. Forty days He had been with 
them after His resurrection; the rest He had passed 
within the vail. And was it not possible that in 
saying, “ Not many days,” He pointed them forward 
to the day which commemorated the opening of the 
new dispensation of God to Israel by the hand of 
His servant Moses? Was it not probable that the 
glorious dispensation of His Son would be opened 
at this time ? Unbelief would have long ago ceased 
to expect; but faith would probably renew its an¬ 
ticipations, and look to this day.* 

On the morning of the resurrection, some—the 
women—were early at the tomb; but the others 
were sauntering into the country, or here and there, 
with nothing to wait for, as they thought; yet 
partly expecting something to come to their ears. 
Even late in the day, when they did meet to hear 
what some had seen and heard, Thomas was away. 
Now, however, after ten days have elapsed, their 
patience is not exhausted. They do expect, and 
therefore will not cease to wait. They have no at¬ 
tention for any thing else. The kingdom of God is 
at hand. Did He not say, “ Not many days ?” Ten 

* Among the many writers on the temporal relation between 
the Pentacost and the Passover, no one is familiar or clearer 
than Kuinoel. 


THE FUEFILLME2ST OF THE PEOMISE. 


33 


are gone; and the conclusion is, not that of servants 
too idle to wait: “ Our Lord delayeth His coming 
we may as well sit still. He will come in His own 
good time.” That is not waiting: it is idling. They 
said, in their believing hearts, “ Ten days are gone; 
therefore the day of our Lord draweth nigh. This 
is the day of Pentecost; and as the fire appeared 
on Sinai, in the presence of our fathers, when God 
x made His covenant by Moses, it may be that to-day 
He will seal His covenant by the hand of the 
Prophet whom Moses foresaw, baptizing us with 
fire, according to the word wherein He hath made 
His servants to hope.” 

Ho Thomas is absent now! Hot one heart has 
failed ! “They are all in one place.” Ho discord 
or doubt have they permitted to arise: “ they are 
all with one accord in one place.” Hor are they 
slow or late. We are not told at what hour they 
met, but it must have been very early; for after 
they had received the baptism, and filled all Jeru¬ 
salem with the noise of their new powers, Peter re¬ 
minded the multitude, who came together, that it 
was only the third hour of the day—nine o’clock in 
the morning. 

Early, then, on the second Lord’s day after the 
Ascension, is the entire company met, with one 
heart, to renew their oft-repeated prayer. We can 
not go to the house where was that upper room: 

3 


34 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


nor to the site where it stood. These points are 
left unnoticed, after the mode of Christianity, which 
is in nothing a religion of circumstances, in every 
thing a religion of principles. We know not how 
long they had that morning urged their prayer, nor 
whose voice was then crying to Him who had 
promised, nor what word of the Master he was 
pleading, nor what feelings of closer expectation 
and more vivid faith were warming the breasts of 
the disciples. But “ suddenly there came a sound 
from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind.” Not, 
mark you, a wind; no gale sweeping over the city 
struck the sides of the house, and rustled round it. 
But “from heaven” directly downward fell “a 
sound,” without shape, or step, or movement to ac¬ 
count for it—a sound as if a mighty wind were 
rushing, not along the ground, but straight from 
on high, like showers in a dead calm. Yet no 
wind stirred. As to motion, the air of the room 
was still as death; as to sound, it was awful as a 
hurricane. 

Mysterious sound, whence comest thou ? Is it 
the Lord again breathing upon them, but this time 
from His throne ? Is it the wind of Ezekiel pre¬ 
paring to blow ? Shaken by this supernatural sign, 
we may see each head bow low. Then timidly 
turning upward, John sees Peter’s head crowned 
with fire; Peter sees James crowned with fire; 


THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROMISE. 


35 


James sees Nathanael crowned with fire ; Nathan¬ 
ael sees Mary crowned -with fire; and round and 
round the fire sits “ on each of them.” The Lord 
has been mindful of His promise. The word of the 
Lord is tried. John was a faithful witness. Jesus 
was a faithful Redeemer. He is now glorified; for 
the Holy Ghost is given. Jesus “being by the 
right hand of God exalted, and having received of 
the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath 
shed forth this.” 

The instant effect of the descent of the Spirit on 
the first Gentile converts in the house of Cornelius 
was, that they began to “magnify God.”* The 
effect would be the same in this first case. That 
bosom has yet to learn what is the feeling of moral 
sublimity, which never has been suddenly heaved 
with an emotion of uncontrollable adoration to God 
and the Lamb—an emotion which, though no voice 
told whence it came, by its movement in the depths 
of the soul, further down than ordinary feelings 
reach, did indicate somehow that the touch of the 
Creator was traceable in it. They only who have 
felt such unearthly joy need attempt to conceive 
the outburst of that burning moment. Body, soul, 
and spirit, glowing with one celestial fire, would 
blend, and pour out their powers in a rapturous 
“Glory be to God!” or “Blessed be the Lord 
* See Baumgarten. 


36 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


God!” Modern believers—not those who never 
unite in simple and fervent supplications at the 
throne of grace, but those who meet and urge with 
long-repeated entreaty their requests to God—can 
recall times which help them to imagine what must 
have been the peal of praise that burst from the 
hearts of the hundred and twenty, when the bap¬ 
tism fell upon their souls; times when they and 
their friends have felt as if the place where they 
met was filled with the glory of the Lord. 

One word as to the mode of this baptism. In 
this case we have the one perfectly clear account 
contained in Scripture of the mode wherein the 
baptizing element was applied to the person of the 
baptized. The element here is fire; the mode is 
shedding down—“ hath shed forth this.” “ It sat 
upon each of them.” Did baptism mean immer¬ 
sion, they would have been plunged into the fire, 
not the fire shed upon them. The only other case 
in which the mode of contact between the baptizing 
element and the baptized persons is indicated, is 
this : “And were all baptized to Moses in the cloud 
and in the sea.” They were not dipped in the 
cloud, but the cloud descended upon them; they 
were not plunged into the sea, but the sea sprinkled 
them as they passed. The Spirit signified by the 
water is never once promised under the idea of dip - 


THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROMISE. 


37 


ping. Such an expression as, “ I will immerse you 
in My Spirit,” “ I will plunge you in My Spirit,” or, 
“ I will dip you in clean water,” is unknown to the 
Scripture. But, “ I will pour out My Spirit upon 
you,” “I will sprinkle clean water upon you,” is 
language and thought familiar to all readers of the 
Bible. The word “ dip,” or “ dipped,” does not 
often occur in the New Testament; but when 
it does, the original is never “ baptize,” or “ bap¬ 
tized.”* 


The fire is not a shapeless flame. It is not 
Abram’s lamp, nor the pillar of the desert, nor the 
coal of Isaiah, nor the infolding flame of Ezekiel. 
It is a tongue; yea, cloven tongues. On each 
brow glows a sheet of flame, parted into many 
tongues. Here was the symbol of the new dispen¬ 
sation. Christianity was to be a Tongue of Fire. 
It was a symbol of then* “power,” the power 
whereby the new kingdom was to be built up ; the 
power for which they had so long to tarry, and so 
eagerly to pray, when all other things were pre¬ 
pared; for which the whole arrangement for the 
world’s conversion was commanded to stand still. 
The appearance of this one symbol was the signal 
that former ones had waxed old, and were ready to 
vanish away. Altar and cherubim, sacrifice and in- 
* It is always BaTrro, never B<nr ti &. 


38 


THE TONGUE OP FIRE. 


cense, ephod and breast-plate, Urim and Thummim 
—their work was done. Even of the most sacred 
emblem of all, that which was the “ pattern of 
things in the heavens,” the Ark itself, it had been 
foretold, “They shall say no more, The Ark of 
the Covenant of the Lord; neither shall it come 
to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither 
shall they visit it; neither shall it be magnified 
any more.” Of the temple itself the Master 
had said, that not one stone should be left upon 
another. 

All the emblems of the old dispensation were 
now forever superseded. In their room the Lord 
had appointed only two; and they chosen with a 
singular aptness at once to suggest ideas, and to 
avoid image representation: the water, wherein the 
mind could see a symbol of the cleansing Spirit, but 
the eye no attempted likeness: the bread and wine, 
wherein the body and the blood are forcibly 
brought to mind, but no personal similitude set be¬ 
fore the eye. These two only were the unartistic 
emblems which Christ had ordained for His Church. 
His was to be a religion of the understanding and 
the heart; wholly resting on the convictions and 
the principles, building nothing on sense, and per¬ 
mitting nothing to fancy. 

In strict keeping with this spiritual stamp of 
Christianity, was the symbol which, once for all, 


THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PKOMISE. 39 

announced to the Church the advent of her con¬ 
quering power—the power by which she was to 
stand before kings, to confound synagogues, to 
silence councils, to still mobs, to confront the 
learned, to illuminate the senseless, and to inflame 
the cold—the power by which, beginning at Jeru¬ 
salem, where the name of Jesus was a by-word, she 
was to proclaim His glory through all Judea, 
throughout Samaria, and throughout the uttermost 
parts of the earth. The symbol is a tongue, the 
only instrument of the grandest war ever waged : 
a tongue —man’s speech to his fellow man; a mes¬ 
sage in human words to human faculties, from the 
understanding to the understanding, from the 
heart to the heart. A tongue of fire —man’s voice, 
God’s truth; man’s speech, the Holy Spirit’s inspir¬ 
ation ; a human organ, a superhuman power : Not 
one tongue, but cloven tongues; as the speech of 
men is various, here we see the Creator taking to 
Himself the language of every man’s mother; so 
that in the very words wherein he heard her say, 
“ I love thee,” he might also hear the Father of all 
say, “ I love thee.” 

How does that fire-symbol, shining on the brow 
of the primitive Church, rebuke that system which 
would force all men to worship God in one tongue, 
and that not a tongue of fire, but a dead tongue, 
wherein no man now on earth can hear his mother’s 


40 


THE TONGUE OP EIRE. 


tones! Cloven tongues sat on each of them; so 
that each had not only the fire-impulse to go and 
tell aloud the message of reconciliation, but also 
the fire-token that all mankind, of whatever nation, 
kindred, people, or tongue, were heirs alike of the 
Gospel salvation, and of the word whereby that 
salvation is proclaimed. 

Blessed be the hour when that Tongue op Fire 
descended from the Giver of speech into a cold 
world! Had it never come, my mother might 
have led me, when a child, to see slaughter for 
worship, and I should have taught my little ones 
that stones were gods. “ Blessed be the Lord God, 
the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things! 
And blessed be His glorious name forever: and let 
the whole earth be filled with His glory! Amen 
and Amen!” 


CHAPTER IV. 


EFFECTS WHICH IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED THE 
BAPTISM OF FIRE. 

SECTION I.—SPIRITUAL EFFECTS. 

The first effect which followed this baptism of 
fire is thus described: “ They were all filled with 
the Holy Ghost.” This expression is so clearly 
joined with the record of the miracle, that we 
easily suppose that it is itself intended to express 
miraculous inspiration; but this is not its constant, 
nor even its most frequent, use in the New Testa¬ 
ment. It is sometimes employed to describe an 
inspiration antecedent to a miraculous manifesta¬ 
tion, and sometimes one antecedent to a purely 
moral manifestation. Examples of the latter occur 
in several cases of “speaking the word of God 
with boldness,” when the circumstances were such 
that human nature unassisted would have shrunk 
from the danger. 

John the Baptist wrought no miracle; yet of 


42 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


him it was said, that he should be “ filled with the 
Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb.” Here the 
expression denotes some inward and spiritual ope* 
ration, which may take place in the silence of an 
infant’s heart, and show its fruit in the quiet ways 
of childhood. Had he been filled with the Holy 
Ghost immediately before commencing to preach, 
we should have connected the former with the 
latter, as an official, rather than as an inward and 
moral qualification. When men were required to 
fill the office of Deacons—not to work miracles, not 
to speak with tongues, but to promote the brother¬ 
hood and good feeling of the Church, by a better 
regulation of its daily relief to the poor—the quali¬ 
fication demanded was, that they should be “ men 
full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom.” Again, 
Barnabas “ was a good man and full of the Holy 
Ghost and of faith.” This is said of him, not as 
accounting for any miracles or tongues, but in rela¬ 
tion to the fact that, when he had seen the converts 
at Antioch, “ he was glad, and exhorted them all 
that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto 
the Lord.” Again, when the Apostles were first 
called to bear witness for Christ before the Rulers, 
“ Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto 
them,” etc. Here we have no working of miracles, 
no speaking with foreign tongues; but we find the 
man who, when left to his own strength, denied his 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 43 


Master, now filled with a moral power which makes 
him bold to confess that Master’s name, before the 
rulers of his people, and with a wisdom to speak 
according at once to the oracles of God, and the 
exigency of the moment. 

After this first persecution was reported to the 
disciples generally, they, moved and distressed, ap¬ 
pealed to the Lord in prayer, crying, “ And now, 
Lord, behold their threatenings; and grant unto 
Thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak 
Thy word.” The answer to this prayer is recorded 
in terms more striking than in any other case, ex¬ 
cept that of Pentecost : “ And when they had 
prayed, the place was shaken where they were as¬ 
sembled together; and they were all filled with the 
Holy Ghost , and they spake the word of God with 
boldness.” Here, being “ filled with the Holy 
Ghost” was not followed by any miraculous effects 
whatever, but was an inspiration, the result of 
which is special moral strength—strength to con¬ 
front danger and shame—strength to declare all the 
Gospel, though, in so doing, they periled every 
interest dear to them. 

Our Lord had promised to His disciples mirac¬ 
ulous light and power by the Spirit; but it was 
not as a miracle-working power that He had chiefly 
foretold His coming. It was as a spiritual power, a 
comforter, a guide unto all truth, a revealer of 


44 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


the things of God, a remembrancer of the words 
of Christ; one who would convince the world of 
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; one who 
would embolden the Lord’s servants to bear wit¬ 
ness before the most terrible adversaries, and 
would guide their lips to wise and convincing 
speech. Had it been His design that they should 
expect the Holy Spirit chiefly as a miraculous power, 
the leading promises would have had this aspect. 

When He first clearly proclaims that the Com¬ 
forter should come as a substitute for His own pres¬ 
ence, he marks the classes who shall know Him, 
and those who shall not. The distinction between 
them lies not in apostleship or ministry, not in gifts 
or powers, but in being of the world, and “ not of 
the world.” ‘‘Whom the world can not receive, 
because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him : 
but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and 
shall be in you.”* Not, “For He will work mira¬ 
cles by you.” That was not promised to all. Not, 
“He will prophesy by you.” That He did not 
promise to all. But He did promise to all who are 
“not of the world,” that He should dwell with 
them and be in them. Nor is this promise confined 
to the apostolic age, or to the times immediately 
succeeding. “That He may abide with you for¬ 
ever,” gives an interest in the personal influences 
* John xiv. 11 . 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 45 

of the Comforter to the disciples of' all ages, as well 
as to those of the first days. 

This promised substitute for the personal presence 
of Christ, was one whom the world should not see— 
who was to be invisible to the natural eye, undis- 
cernible by the natural mind; yet known and dis¬ 
cerned by believers, though not seen; known, not 
by outward sign, but by inward consciousness. Our 
Lord’s expression is to be strictly noted: “The 
world seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye 
know Him:” not, “Ye see and know Him.” In one 
respect the disciples and the world were to be alike; 
neither should see Him. Yet the disciples should 
“know” Him; for “He dwelleth with you, and 
shall be in you.” Their knowledge of Him was to 
come not by sense, but by consciousness. Was this 
“ being in them” to be an ordinary grace of be¬ 
lievers, or to be coupled only with office or super¬ 
natural endowments ? The want of it is made by 
St. Paul conclusive against the claim of any man to 
be considered even a member of Christ: “Ye are 
not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the 
Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have 
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” This 
passage, however, like many others, expresses only 
a participation of the Spirit in some degree, without 
indicating what that degree might be; leaving it 
open to doubt, were there no other passages bearing 


46 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


upon the point, whether some might not be blessed 
with the indwelling of the Spirit, who yet were to 
be debarred from the fuller privilege expressed in 
the strong words, “ filled with the Holy Ghost.” 

The Apostles themselves had doubtless received 
the Spirit in some measure before the day of Pen¬ 
tecost ; for our Lord had breathed upon them im¬ 
mediately after His resurrection, and said, “ Receive 
ye the Holy Ghost.” Yet in the time which inter¬ 
vened between that and Pentecost, whatever might- 
have been the advancement of their spiritual condi¬ 
tion beyond what it was before, it rested far behind 
that which immediately followed upon the baptism 
of fire. It was only then that they were '‘'‘filled 
with the Holy Ghost.” We find, however, that 
even the expression, “ be filled,” is applied broadly 
to ordinary believers; and that, too, not merely as 
describing the actual enjoyments of some individ¬ 
uals, but as a precept applicable to all: “ Be not 
drunken with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled 
with the Spirit .” Whatever is meant by being 
“filled with the Holy Ghost” is, by these plain 
words, laid upon us as our duty. Looking at it in 
the aspect of a duty, and thinking of the moral 
height which the expression indicates above our 
ordinary life, we shrink. Can such an obligation 
lie upon us ? Is it not commanding the purblind to 
gaze upon the sun ? And yet, whatever is the duty 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 4 

of man must be the will of God. In this view, 
then* the commandment seems to carry even a 
stronger encouragement than the promise—seems, 
in fact, to sum up many promises in one conclusive 
appeal, saying, “All things are now ready. The 
Lord has provided; the fountain is open; the pure 
river of the water of life, clear as crystal, is pro¬ 
ceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb; 
you are called to its banks, and with you it rests to 
drink and be filled with the Spirit.” 

He who has not received the Holy Ghost has not 
yet entered into the real Christian life, does not 
know the “peace which passeth understanding,” 
has in no sense “ Christ in Him the hope of glory.” 
He is still “ in the flesh,” in his natural and carnal 
state; for the Spirit of God does not dwell in him. 
The difference between receiving the Spirit and 
being filled with the Spirit, is a difference not of 
kind, but of degree. In the one case, the light of 
heaven has reached the dark chamber, disturbing 
night, but leaving some obscurity and some deep 
shadows. In the other, that light has filled the 
whole chamber, and made every corner bright. 
This state of the soul—being “ filled with the Holy 
Ghost”—is the normal antecedent of true prophetic 
or miraculous power, but may exist without it: 
without it, in individuals who are never endowed 
with the gift either of prophecy or of miracles; 


48 


THE TONGUE OP FIRE. 


without it, in individuals who have such powers, but 
in whom they are not in action, as in John the Bap¬ 
tist before his ministry commenced. 

Eyesight is the necessary basis of what is called 
a painter’s or a poet’s eye; the sense of hearing, 
the necessary basis of what is called a musical ear: 
yet eyesight may exist where there is no poet’s or 
painter’s eye, and hearing where there is no musical 
ear. So may the human soul be “ filled with the 
Holy Ghost,” having every faculty illuminated, and 
every affection purified, without any miraculous 
gift. On the other hand, the miraculous power 
does not necessarily imply the spiritual fullness; for 
Paul puts the supposition of speaking with tongues, 
prophesying, removing mountains, and yet lacking 
charity, that love which must be shed abroad in 
every heart that is full of the Holy Ghost. 

“ Filled with the Holy Ghost!” Thrice blessed 
word! thanks be to God, that ever the tongues of 
men were taught it! It declares not only that the 
Lord has returned to His temple in the human soul, 
but that He has filled the house with His glory; 
pervaded every chamber, every court, by His man¬ 
ifested presence. 

“That ye might be filled with all the fullness of 
God,” is a prayer at which we falter. Is it not too 
much to ask ? Is it not a sublime flight after the 
impossible ? Let us remember it is not, “ That ye 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 49 

might contain all the fullness of God.” That would 
be more impossible than that your chamber should 
contain all the light of the sun. But it can be filled 
with the light of the sun—so filled that not a par¬ 
ticle of unillumined air shall remain within it. 
When, therefore, the hand of the Apostle leads 
you up toward the countenance of your Father; 
when you approach to see the light which outshines 
all lights, “ the glory of God in the face of Christ 
Jesus,” put away all thought of containing what 
the heavens can not contain; but, humbly open¬ 
ing thy heart, say, “Infinite Light, fill this little 
chamber 1” 

Reason says, “ It may be;” Scripture says, “ It 
may be;” but a shrinking of the heart says, “It 
can not be; we can never ‘ be filled with all the 
fullness of God.’ ” When Paul had uttered that 
prayer, perhaps this same shrinking of heart had 
almost come over him: how does he meet it? 
Glancing down at his wonderful petition, and up at 
his Almighty King, he breaks out, “ Now unto Him 
that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all 
that we ask or think, according to the power that 
worketh in us; unto Him be glory in the Church 
by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without 
end. Amen.” Yea, Amen, ten thousand thousand 
times. The words of this doxology had been holy 

and blessed in any connection; but they are; doubly 
4 


50 


THE TONGUE OP FIRE. 


blessed, closely following, as they do, the prayer, 
<l That ye might be filled with the fullness of God.” 
Nor should we forget that the power which Paul 
here adores is not some abstract and unmoved 
power of Deity, but “ the power which worJceth in 
us” What is this power? The Holy Ghost— 
“ might by His Spirit in the inner man.” 

What a labor of expression do we find in 2 Cor. 
ix. 8, when Paul wants to convey his own idea of 
the power of grace, as practically enabling men to 
do the will of God! “ And God is able to make 

all grace abound toward you ; that ye, always hav¬ 
ing all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every 
good work.” Here we have “ abound” twice, and 
“ all” four times, in one short sentence.* “Abound” 
means not only to fill, but to overflow. The double 
overflow, first of grace from God to us, then of the 
same grace from us to “ every good work,” is a 
glorious comment on our Lord’s word : “ He that 
believeth Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his 
belly shall flow rivers of water. But this spake 
He of the Spirit which they that believe on Him 
should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet 
given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” 
The believer’s heart, in itself incapable of holy liv¬ 
ing, as a marble cistern of yielding a constant 

* In the Greek nac occurs five times, the last being nav ipyov 
dyadov , rendered, “ every good work.” 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FLEE. 51 

stream, is placed, like the cistern, in communication 
with an invisible source; the source constantly 
overflows into the cistern, and it again overflows. 
Happy the heart thus filled, thus overflowing with 
the Holy Spirit! Where is the fountain of those 
living waters, that we may bring our hearts 
thither ? “ He showed me a pure river of water 

of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne 
of God and of the Lamb.”* There is the fount, 
there the stream; the Spirit proceeding from 
the Father and the Son. To the throne of grace ! 
to the mercy-seat! and you are at the fountain 
of all life. Nor seek a scant supply at that 
source. “ Be filled w r ith the Spirit,” sounds in 
your ears; and, if you believe, not only will a well 
“ spring up within” you, but rivers shall flow out 
from you. 

The Spirit, as replenishing the believer with 
actual virtues and practical holiness, is ever kept 
before our eye in the apostolic writings. “ That 
ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleas¬ 
ing, being fruitful in every good work, and in¬ 
creasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened 
with all might, according to His glorious power, 
unto all patience and long-sufiering with joyful¬ 
ness.” 

Putting these various expressions together, what 
* Rev. xxii. 1 


52 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


a view do they give of the riches of grace !—“ all 
sufficiency,” “ in all things,” “ always,” “ abound to 
every good work,” “ fruitful in every good work,” 
“ strengthened with all might,” “ according to His 
glorious power,” “ according to the power which 
worketh in us,” “ filled with all the fullness of God*” 
Eternal Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the 
Son, answer and disperse all our unbelief by filling 
our hearts with Thyself! 

The expression, “filled with the Holy Ghost,” 
places before us the human spirit restored to its 
original and highest fellowship. In many respects 
that spirit is alone in this world. It finds here 
nothing that is its own equal. Every thing upon 
which it can look is its inferior in both nature and 
powers. Earth and sky, beasts and birds, are the 
instruments of its comfort, or the subjects of its 
thoughts; but never can share in its cares or affec¬ 
tions. The fields never say, “We enjoy thy pres¬ 
ence,” nor the stars, “We return thine admira¬ 
tion.” The lower animals can take no part in its 
deep movements of hope and fear; can shed no 
light on its problems of justice, pardon, and the 
world to come. In the spirit of its fellow-man 
alone can it find an equal; and communion with it, 
though it often solaces, often both wounds and 
defiles. Yet it is the nature of man to seek an ob- 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 53 

ject kindred to himself, but superior. Probably 
this is necessary to all natures which are at the 
same time rational and finite. But where can man 
find a being kindred to himself, and yet superior to 
him ? Below the sky he is head, yet upward his 
instincts turn—upward toward some one brighter 
or greater than himself. 

What can answer to those upward aspirations of 
the soul ? Its Creator. After years spent in search 
of happiness, the human spirit penitently returns 
toward its God, and, trusting in the atonement of 
His Son, finds forgiveness for the past. Then does 
the great Comforter, the Witness of the Father’s 
love, the Spirit of adoption, give the manifestation 
of the Divine favor which David delighted to call 
“ the light of Thy countenance.” This manifesta¬ 
tion may be gentle, or it may be rapturous ; but in 
any case it is comforting. When gentlest, it 
touches chords of satisfaction more delicate than 
were ever reached by the most subtle joy of intel¬ 
lect ; when most rapturous, it carries with it an as¬ 
sent of the whole judgment such as no previous 
enjoyment, however tranquil, commanded. The 
thirst of the soul has no deeper seat than is now 
reached. Wisdom has no remonstrance, expecta¬ 
tion no disappointment, fear no warning. It may 
be in a profound calm, it may be in an unspeakable 
joy; but it is with core-deep consciousness that the 


54 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


soul feels it has now touched, yea, tasted, its su¬ 
preme good, and that, for time or for eternity, it 
needs no more than to abide in this blessedness, and 
improve this fellowship. The gloomy chamber of 
which we spoke a little while ago was entered by 
the sunbeams noiselessly and impalpably ; no hand 
could feel, no ear could hear them as they came; 
nothing but an eye within that chamber could dis¬ 
cern the great change. It remains the same 
chamber, with the same contents; yet every tiling 
is changed, even to the very air. So it is with the 
soul of man when the Lord saith, “ My Father will 
love him, and We will come unto him, and make 
Our abode with him.” This is not only the presence 
of God with the spirit of man, but a special and a 
manifested presence. 

How can that be special which is universal ? 
God is not far from every one of us; every man 
who moves upon the earth moves in Him. How 
then can He be specially present with one man 
more than with another ? Strictly speaking, per¬ 
haps it is more a question of manifestation than of 
presence. Electric agency may be present every¬ 
where ; but it rarely makes itself visible in a flash. 
Heat may be present everywhere; but is not every¬ 
where manifested by fire. Jude said, “ Lord, how 
is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and 
not unto the world ?” God is with all, but is un- 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIKE. 55 

seen by any eye, and, alas! undiscerned by many 
a spirit. He does not withdraw His presence 
from any part of His universe, or His care from 
any of His creatures; but, as a human frame may 
be moving amid the light of the sun, and see 
no light, so may a soul be moving in that 
universe which is fuller of God than the atmos¬ 
phere at noontide is of sunbeams, and yet discern 
no God. 

All objects require a suitable faculty, or they are 
unperceived: sound exists not to the eye; light 
exists not to the ear; flavor exists not to the 
touch. It is of no avail that an object is, unless 
our nature has the special faculty whereby we can 
descry its presence. A strong magnetic power 
may be acting on the compass, whereon the steers¬ 
man concentrates his attention; but eye, ear, hand, 
smell, taste, give no report of its presence to the 
mind; and he first learns that it was there, by the 
crash of the ship on a coast which he thought was 
far away. 

Our Lord said, in reply to Jude, “If any man 
love Me, he will keep My word; and My Father 
will love him, and We will come unto him, and 
make Our abode with him.” This is more than 
mere presence. Presence may be unfelt, and there¬ 
fore forgotten; may be with displeasure, and there¬ 
fore joyless. But this is presence manifested -—“We 


56 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


will come to him;” gracious—the coming is from 
“ love habitual and involving fellowship —both 
of these ideas lie in, “ Make our abode with him.” 

Two men are walking upon the same plain, and 
each turns his face toward the sky. The light of 
the sun is shining Upon both, but one sees no sun, 
while the other sees not only light, but the face of 
the sun, and his eye is overpowered with its glory. 
What makes the difference between the two ? Hot 
that one is in darkness, and the other in light; not 
that one is near the sun, and the other far away; 
not that one has an eye differently constituted from 
the other; but simply that there is a thin cloud be¬ 
tween heaven and the one, and no cloud between it 
and the other. The latter can not only trace evi¬ 
dence that there is a sun, and that he is up, but has 
the presence of that sun before his face, and his 
glory filling his eye. So two men stand in relation 
to the universal and all-present God. One believes, 
infers, intellectually knows, that He is; ay, that He 
is present; yet he discerns Him not: it is a matter 
of inference, not of consciousness; and though be¬ 
lieving that God is, and that He is present, he sins 
Another spiritually discerns, feels His presence 
and he learns to “ stand in awe, and sin not.” 

Suppose the case of a cripple who had spent his 
life in a room where the sun was never seen. He 
has heard of its existence, he believes in it, and, in- 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 57 

deed, has seen enough of its light to give him high 
ideas of its glory. Wishing to see the sun, he is 
taken out at night into the streets of an illuminated 
city. At first, he is delighted, dazzled; but, after 
he has had time to reflect, he finds darkness spread 
amid the lights, and he asks, “ Is this the sun ?” 
He is taken out under the starry sky, and is en¬ 
raptured ; but on reflection finds that night covers 
the earth, and again asks, “ Is this the sun ?” He 
is carried out some bright day at noontide, and no 
sooner does his eye open on the sky than all ques¬ 
tion is at an end. There is but one sun. His eye 
is content: it has seen its highest object, and feels 
that there is nothing brighter. So with the soul: it 
enjoys all lights; yet, amid those of art and nature, 
is still inquiring for something greater. But when 
it is led by the reconciling Christ into the presence 
of the Father, and He lifts up upon it the light of 
His countenance, all thought of any thing greater 
disappears. As there is but one sun, so there is but 
one God. The soul which once discerns and knows 
Him, feels that greater or brighter there is none, 
.and that the only possibility of ever beholding more 
glory is by drawing nearer. 

The operation of the Holy Spirit implies a quick¬ 
ening of the nature of man by an impartation of 
the Divine nature, and every increase of it implies 
a fuller communion of the Eternal Father with His 


58 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


adopted child. When the soul of man is “filled 
with the Holy Ghost,” then has God that wherein 
He does rejoice, “ a temple not made with hands,” 
not reared by human art, of unconscious and insen¬ 
sible material; a temple created by His own word, 
and living by His own breath. In that living tem¬ 
ple He displays somewhat of His glory. In the 
Shekinah of the sanctuary He could manifest majesty 
only. In this living temple He can manifest truth, 
purity, tenderness, forgiveness, justice—the whole 
round of such attributes as His children below the 
sky are capable of comprehending. 

Thus inhabited, not only is the soul of man un¬ 
utterably blessed, but his body reaches dignity, the 
thought of which might make even flesh sing. “ Y our 
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in 
you, which ye have of God; and ye are not your 
own.” Hot your own, for purchase has been made: 
“ Ye are bought with a price;” not your own, for 
possession has been taken: “ Know ye not that ye 
are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God 
dwelleth in you £”* A holy man, whose presence 
breathes an unworldly air around him, whose name 
is identified with a constancy of godly actions, is a 
visible monument and remembrancer of God. Each 
member of his body is as a temple vessel. By it 
holy works are done, and the will of the parent 
* 1 Cor. iii. 16, etc. 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIFE. 59 

Spirit on moral points expressed by material instru¬ 
ments. His spirit is led by the Spirit of God. 
His “ mortal body” is quickened by the Spirit 
“that dwelleth in him.” He not only “lives in 
the Spirit,” but “ wal/cs in the Spirit”—his visible 
acts, as well as his hidden emotions, being “ aftei 
the Spirit.” The natural man has disappeared 
from his life and actions. Another creature lives. 
Thoughts, purposes, works, which his nature never 
prompted, which, when prompted by revelation, his 
nature could not attain to, now abound, as sweet 
grapes on a good vine. This precept is embodied 
in his life: “ Neither yield ye your members as in¬ 
struments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield 
yourselves unto God as those that are alive from 
the dead, and your members as instruments of 
righteousness unto God.”* 

In this the power of the Holy Ghost is practically 
manifested by a reversal of the relations of the 
human spirit and the flesh. To persons yet in the 
body, the Apostle says, “Ye are not in the flesh, 
but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell 
in you.” Not in the flesh, yet in the body! The 
unconverted man has a spirit, but it is carnalized ; 
the play of its powers—the studies of the intellect, 
the flights of the imagination, the impulses of the 
heart, are dictated by motives which all range be- 
* Rom. vi. 13. 


60 


THE TONGUE OF FIKE. 


low the sky and halt on this side of the tomb. The 
spirit is the servant of the flesh; and man differs 
from perishing animals chiefly in this, that for carnal 
purposes and delights he commands the service of 
spiritual agent—his own soul. 

The Holy Spirit, as man’s regenerator, reverses 
this state of things. He quickens the spirit, and 
through it quickens the frame, so that instead of 
spiritual powers being carnalized, a mortal body is 
spiritualized; instead of soul and spirit being sub¬ 
jected by the flesh, flesh and blood become instru¬ 
ments of the Spirit. Limbs move on works of 
heavenly origin and intent. Thus a direct connec¬ 
tion is established between the will of the Supreme 
Spirit and the material organs of man. A purpose 
originates in the mind of God; by His Spirit it is 
silently and swiftly transmitted to the spirit of His 
child; and by this to the “ mortal body.” Then, as 
an iron wire, on the shore of the Crimea, expresses 
the will of our Queen in London, so do the earthly 
members of a mortal express, in the outward and 
physical world, the purpose of the Holy One. This 
is redemption achieved: this is adoption in its is¬ 
sues : this is the new life: this is human nature re¬ 
stored, man walking in the light; “ God dwelling 
in him, and he in God.” Then his life is a light, 
and a light so pure, that it gives those on whom it 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 61 

shines, not the idea of “ good nature,” hut of some¬ 
thing heavenly. They see his good works, and 
“ glorify his Father which is in Heaven :” not extol 
his character; but feel that he is raised above his 
own character, and is “ God’s workmanship , created 
anew in Christ Jesus unto good works.” 

A piece of iron is dark and cold; imbued with a 
certain degree of heat, it becomes almost burning 
without any change of appearance; imbued with a still 
greater degree, its very appearance changes to that 
of solid fire, and it sets fire to whatever it touches. 
A piece of water without heat is solid and brittle; 
gently warmed, it flows; further heated, it mounts 
to the sky. An organ filled with the ordinary de¬ 
gree of air which exists everywhere, is dumb; the 
touch of the player can elicit but a clicking of the 
keys. Throw in not another air, but an unsteady 
current of the same air, and sweet, but imperfect 
and uncertain, notes immediately respond to the 
player’s touch: increase the current to a full supply, 
and every pipe swells with music. Such is the soul 
without the Holy Ghost; and such are the changes 
which pass upon it when it receives the Holy Ghost, 
and when it is “ filled with the Holy Ghost.” In the 
latter state only is it fully imbued with the Divine 
nature, bearing in all its manifestations some plain 
resemblance to its God, conveying to all on whom 
it acts some impression of Him, mounting heaven- 


62 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


ward in all its movements, and harmoniously pour¬ 
ing forth, from all its faculties, the praises of the 
Lord. 

The moral change wrought in the disciples, by 
the new baptism of the Spirit, is strikingly dis¬ 
played in the case of one man. A difficult service 
was to be performed in Jerusalem that day. Had 
it been desired to find a man in London who would 
have gone down to Whitehall a few weeks after 
Charles was beheaded, and, addressing Cromwell’s 
soldiers, have endeavored to persuade them that he 
whom they had executed was not only a King 
and a good one, but a Prophet of God, and that, 
therefore, they had been guilty of more than regi¬ 
cide—of sacrilege; although England had brave 
men then, it may be questioned whether any one 
could have been found to bear such a message to 
that audience. 

The service which had then to be performed in 
Jerusalem was similar to this. It was needful that 
some one should stand up under the shadow of the 
temple, and braving Chief Priests and mobs alike, 
assert that He whom they had shamefully executed 
seven weeks ago, was Israel’s long looked-for Mes¬ 
siah ; that they had been guilty of a sin which had 
no name; had raised their hands against “ God 
manifest in the fleshhad, in words strange to 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 63 

human ears, “hilled the Prince of Life” Who 
was thus to confront the rage of the mob, and the 
malice of the Priests ? We see a man rising, filled 
with a holy fire, so that he totally forgets his 
danger, and seems not even conscious that he is 
doing a heroic act. He casts back upon the mock¬ 
ers their charge, and proceeds to open and to press 
home his tremendous accusation, as if he were a 
King upon a throne, and each man before him a 
lonely and defenceless culprit. 

Who is this man ? Have we not seen him be¬ 
fore? Is it possible that it can be Peter? We 
know him of old : he has a good deal of zeal, but 
little steadiness ; he means well, and, when matters 
are smooth, can serve well; but when difficulties 
and adversaries rise before him, his moral courage 
fails. How shor^ a time is it ago since we saw him 
tried! He had been resolving that, come what 
might, he would stand by his Master to the last. 
Others might flinch, he would stand. Soon the 
Master was *m the hands of enemies. Yet his case 
was by no means lost. The Governor was on his 
side; many of the people were secretly for Him; 
nothing could De proved against Him; and, above 
all, He who had saved others could save Himself. 
Yet, as Peter saw scowling faces, his courage failed. 
A servant-maid looked into his eye, and his eye fell. 
She said she thought he belonged to Jesus of 


64 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


Nazareth; his heart sank, and he said, “ No. n 
Then another looked in his face, and repeated the 
same suspicion. Now, of course, he was more 
cowardly, and repeated his “ No.” A third looked 
upon him, and insisted that he belonged to the ac¬ 
cused Prophet. How his poor heart was all flut¬ 
tering ; and, to make it plain that he had nothing 
to do with Jesus of Nazareth, he began to curse 
and swear. 

Is it within the same breast where this pale and 
tremulous heart quaked, that we see glowing a 
brave heart which dreads neither the power of the 
authorities, nor the violence of the populace; 
which faces every prejudice and every vice of 
Jerusalem, every bitter Pharisee and every street 
brawler, as if they were no more than straying and 
troublesome sheep ? Is the Peter of Pilate’s hall 
the Peter of Pentecost, with the same natural 
powers, the same natural force of character, the 
same training, and the same resolutions? If so, 
what a difference is made in a man by the one cir¬ 
cumstance of being filled with the Holy Ghost! 

O for high examples of God’s moral “ workman¬ 
ship !” O for men instinct with the Spirit; the 
countenance glowing as a transparency with a lamp 
behind it; the eye shining with a purer, truer light 
than any that genius or good-nature ever shed; 
limbs agile for any act of prayer, of praise, of zeal, 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 65 

for any errand of compassion; and a tongue of 
fire! O for men on whom the silent verdict of the 
observer would be, “ He is a good man, and full of 
the Holy Ghost!” Never, perhaps, did earthly 
eyes see more frequently than we see in our day, 
men with ordinary Christian excellences—men in 
private life whose walk is blameless—men in the 
ministry who are admirable, worthy, and useful. 
But are not men “ full of the Holt Ghost” a 
rare and minished race ? Are tho se whose entire 
spirit bespeaks a walk of prayer, such as we would 
ascribe to Enoch or to John ; whose words fall 
with a demonstration of the Spirit, and a power 
such as we conceive attended Paul or Apollos; who 
make on believers the impression of being imme¬ 
diate and mighty instruments of God, and on unbe¬ 
lievers the impression of being dangerous to come 
hear, lest they should convert them;—are such men 
often met with ? 

Do not even the good frequently speak as if we 
were not to look for such burning and shining 
lights ? as if we must be content in our educated 
and intelligent age with a style of holiness more 
level and less startling ? Do not many make up 
their minds never more to see men such as their 
fathers saw; men at whose prayer a wondrous 
power of God was ever ready to fall, whether upon 
two or three kneeling in a cabin, and wondering 


66 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


how the unlearned could find such wisdom, or 
on the great multitude, wondering how the learned 
could find such simplicity ? Never more see 
such men! The Lord forbid! Return, O Power 
of the Pentecost, return to Thy people! Shed 
down Thy flame on many heads! To us, as to 
our fathers, and to those of the old time before 
them, give fullness of grace! Without Thee we 
can do nothing; but filled with the Holy Ghost, the 
excellency of the power will be of Thee, O God! 
and not of us, 


CHAPTER IV. 


CONTINUED. 

SECTION II.—MIRACULOUS EFFECTS. 

“ They began to speak with other tongues, as 
the Spirit gave them utterance.” It is not said, 
“ with unknown tongues.” In fact, the expression, 
“ unknown tongues,” was never used by an inspired 
writer. In the Epistle to the Corinthians, it is 
found in the English version; but the word “ un¬ 
known” is in italics, showing that it is not taken 
from the original. Speaking unknown tongues 
was never heard of in the apostolic days. That 
miracle first occurred in London some years ago. 
On the day of Pentecost no man pretended to 
speak unknown tongues; but just as if we in Lon¬ 
don suddenly began to speak German, French, 
Spanish, Russian, Turkish, and other foreign lan¬ 
guages, so it was with them. Rot one tongue was 
spoken that day but a man was found in the streets 
of Jerusalem to turn round, and cry, “This is my 
own tongue, wherein I was born!” The miracle 


68 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


lay in the power of speaking the tongues of adjacent 
nations, from which individuals were in Jerusalem 
at that very time. This is not only miraculous, but 
a miracle in a very amazing form; perhaps, as to 
its form, the most amazing of all miracles. 

Matter is a great and pregnant thing. To us its 
properties are not only wonderful, but exceedingly 
mysterious. When we see it flourishing while w r e 
fade, towering in hills, or careering in waves, or 
spread out in the firmament, we almost feel as if it 
were greater than we. Yet are we ever proving 
that, in spite of appearances, matter is less than 
mind. Mind searches out matter, wields it, molds 
it, makes it the servant of its will. Mind, then, 
being the superior, it follows that a work wrought 
in mind is greater than one wrought in matter. 
Miracles in seas, mountains, the firmament, or the 
human body, display a power which rules the frame 
of nature and the frame of man. Yet, as the sphere 
of these is matter, the whole order may be called 
the physical miracle— works above nature, wrought 
upon physical agents in attestation of the revelation 
of God. But beyond this lies a higher miracle, of 
which the sphere is mind; and which, therefore, we 
may call the mental miracle —works above nature 
wrought in mind in attestation of the revelation of 
God. Of this order two forms had been witnessed 
previously—inspiration and prophecy; but now a 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 69 

new miracle in mind was to challenge the belief of 
all Jerusalem. 

This miracle, as to its moral impression, differed 
totally from all physical miracles; even from that 
complex and most peculiar miracle, the raising of 
the dead, wherein we see a power which matter and 
spirit, animal life and mental illumination, equally 
obey. That miracle stands alone; yet the chief 
impression which it makes, and certainly the im¬ 
pression which all purely physical miracles make, 
is that of power. They suggest, also, indeed, the 
idea of wisdom, else the power would not go so un¬ 
erringly to its end; and of goodness, else power so 
irresistible would move, not to bless, but to de¬ 
stroy ; yet the leading impression produced is un¬ 
doubtedly that of power. In such miracles we 
recognize chiefly “the high hand, and the stretched 
out arm.” 

In inspiration, we see the mind of man enabled 
to sit down among the morning mists of things, and 
to write a book which will stand while the world 
stands. In prophecy, we see the mind enabled to 
look through a thousand years, and describe what 
lies beyond so plainly, that, when it is unfolded to 
ordinary sight, it shall at once be recognized. Both 
these miracles bring us, not so much into the pres¬ 
ence of a Ruler, as into the presence of a Spirit. 

In beholding a sea dried, or a wilderness strewn 


10 THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 

with food, we feel ourselves near the Lord of nature 
and the Stay of life. So here we feel ourselves 
near the Fount of all mind, whose own knowledge 
depends neither on material phenomena, nor on the 
lapse of time ; whose mode of acting on the human 
mind is not by laws analogous to those whereby the 
latter acts on material organs, or on its kindred 
minds through them. As, however, we watch the 
miracle of tongues, a strange solemnity falls upon 
us; we feel as if we had left the region where mind 
slowly and dimly learns through sense, had crossed 
some invisible line into the land of spirits, and were 
standing before the Original Mind. What knowl¬ 
edge of mind so minute as that which scans every 
sign whereby every mind expresses its ideas ? WTiat 
power over mind so unsearchable as that which can 
fill it in an instant with new signs for all its ideas— 
signs never before present to it, yet answering ex¬ 
actly to those which others had been trained from 
childhood to use ? 

A number of Galilean peasants issue from an upper 
room into the streets of Jerusalem. A strange fire 
is in every eye, a strange light on every countenance. 
Each one looks joyful and benignant, as if he felt 
that he was carrying the balm for the world’s sores 
in his breast. Each has plainly a world to say, and 
wants listeners. Probably their steps turn toward 
the temple, which during the ten days had divided 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 7l 

their presence with the upper room. One meets 
with an Arab, and addresses him; another goes up 
to a Roman, and in a moment they are deeply en¬ 
gaged ; a third sees a Persian, a fourth an African 
from Cyrene; and, as they go along, each one at¬ 
taches himself to some foreigner. He tells a strange 
tale, strange in its substance, equally strange in its 
eloquence; a new and unaccountable eloquence, 
wonderful not for grace, expression, or sweet sound, 
but for power. 

One hearer in Latin, another in Coptic, another 
in Persian, another in Greek, exclaims first at the 
wonder of the story, and then at the wonder of the 
narrator: “ Art not thou a Galilean ? whence then 
hast thou this fluency in Latin ?” He answers that 
he has received it to-day by gift from God. A 
smile curls on the lip of the Roman, and he turns 
round to a neighboring group. There an Egyptian 
has just been putting the same question, and re¬ 
ceived the same answer. Yonder is an excited little 
knot, where a Parthian declares that the tongue in 
which a man has told him of the death, resurrec¬ 
tion, and ascension of Jesus, is his mother tongue. 
People from Jerusalem are mocking, and saying, 
“ The men are full of new winebut the strangers, 
on speaking one to another, find that they have all 
been hearing precisely the same things in their 
“ own tongues.” 


72 


THE TONGUE OP EIRE. 


Those faces of different complexions, on compar¬ 
ing their opinions, darkle with awe. They find that 
in all this diversity of tongues the same tidings are 
repeated, and thus see the unity of matter in the 
variety of language: they find that the men who 
speak are unschooled peasants, yet are all gifted 
with the same unheard-of power; and thus see in 
the variety of speakers the unity of inspiration. 
The tongues are the tongues of all mankind; but 
the impulse is one, and the message one! From 
what center do all these languages issue? The 
same instinct which leads back the thought from 
speech to a mind, leads it back from this universal 
speech till it stands awe-struck in the presence of 
the Central Intellect of the Spirit which “ formeth 
the spirit of man within him,” of the Supreme 
Mind, to which all mind is common ground—of the 
Father of Thought! 

It would be impossible to conceive any form of 
credential so well framed to certify, that a doctrine 
was the immediate issue of the mind of God. The 
bare thought of such a miracle as that of tongues, 
had it only been a thought, would have made in 
itself an era in the history of man’s intellect; and 
it may be fairly questioned whether such a thought 
could have originated in any thing else than in the 
fact. The leading feature of the new religion was 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 73 

to be a Divine teaching upon things invisible and 
spiritual—on points of which the unaided powers 
of man could give no conclusive solution. For such 
a teaching no attestation could be so apposite as one 
that accredited it as a message from the Spirit which 
“ searcheth all things.” The universal call to man 
was worthily issued into the world by a sign which 
showed that it came directly frpm the only ’wise 
God, who gives understanding, and holds the keys 
of thought. The command of all languages, by one 
consentaneous impulse, proclaimed the new message 
to be the Wokd of God. 

The great question for humanity is, Hath God 
spoken? Are we poor wanderers each left here to 
his own light, and Heaven looking down in eternal 
silence on all our straying and perplexity? Hath 
the Parent Spirit, whence these spirits of ours come, 
surrounded them with His infinite presence at every 
step of their stumbling and perilous journey, and 
never once, from the day of Adam to our day, sig¬ 
nified that He saw, and heard, and felt ? Has He 
dealt with the soul of man as with “ the spirit of a 
beast” that could never bless Him, and never break 
His law ? Are all words the words of erring man, 
and all lights those doubtful and deceptive lights, 
following which so many have miserably perished ? 
Is all doctrine the guesses of thinkers, or the 


74 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


juggling of priests? Has God never, never 
spoken ? 

“ God spake all these words, and said !” 
On the Pentecost of Israel, from out of the fire on 
Sinai, came “ a mighty voice, 5 ’ which, sweeping 
down from the distant peak as if from a throne at 
hand, filled the ears of three millions of people, or 
more, as if they»had been a little group. Ten 
times the Voice sounded mysteriously over all that 
awed and quivering host, till human nature, smitten 
to the core, cried out, “We die, we die.” The 
Voice had uttered only gentle and wholesome laws, 
laws binding man to God, and man to man, laying 
sure paths to peace and blessedness; but human 
nature was already guilty under these laws, and the 
Voice awoke only the response, “Let not God 
speak with us, lest we die.”* 

Thus, in the old time, a whole nation could be 
appealed to, that all words were not uncertain, nor 
all questions open: “Ye came near and stood 
under the mountain: and the mountain burned 
with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, 
clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake 
unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard 
the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; 
only ye heard a voice. And He declared unto you 
His covenant which He commanded you to perform, 
* Exod. xx. 19. 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 75 

even ten commandments; and He wrote them 
upon two tables of stone.” 

As in the Pentecost of Israel, so in the Pentecost 
of Christianity, the Lord once more speaks “ out of 
the midst of the fire.” Now, however, the accom¬ 
panying tokens are not physical, but mental; em¬ 
ploying many human minds and human tongues as 
His instruments, yet manifesting the unity of that 
impulse whereby they are all moved, He makes not 
merely the people of one nation, but the represent¬ 
atives of all nations, feel that God hath spoken. 
Yes, tell it wherever there are ears to hear, tell it 
to the ends of the earth, God hath spoken / man 
has not been forgotten; guesses are not all our 
light; there is a Gospel , a “ speech of God;” ques¬ 
tions affecting salvation are settled; and our way 
to holy living and happy dying traced by the Hand 
which rules both worlds. 

With regard to the gift of tongues, some curious 
questions have been raised, especially by the 
learned. One is as to whether the miracle was 
really in the speaker, and not in the hearer; so 
that although all that was spoken was in one lan¬ 
guage, the ordinary language of the disciples, yet 
the hearers of different nations each heard in his 
own tongue. For this opinion, as for all opinions, 
it is possible to cite some considerable names. But 


IQ 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


had it been as here supposed, the symbol of the 
miracle would not have been cloven tongues, but 
manifold ears. The double declaration of the nar^ 
rative perfectly corresponds with the symbol. As 
regards the speakers, it says that they “ spake with 
other tongues;” as regards the hearers, that they 
“ heard every man in his own tongue.” 

When St. Paul finds fault with the use of the 
gift of tongues in Corinth, he does not blame the 
hearers for lacking an ear that would interpret their 
own tongue into foreign ones but blames the speak¬ 
ers for speaking “ with the tongue words not easy 
to be understood” by the unlearned; and the only 
reason he ever assigns why the auditors could not 
understand is, that they were unlearned; clearly 
showing that a foreign language was employed, 
which educattion might have enabled them to 
understand, but for the understanding of which 
miraculous power does not seem ever to have been 
given. If the supposition of the miracle in hearing, 
instead of in speech, has been resorted to with a 
view to simplify the miracle, it defeats its own ob¬ 
ject; for, to sustain that supposition, the miraculous 
influence must have been exerted on a number of 
persons, as much greater than in the other case, as 
the hearers were more numerous than the speakers. 
At the same time, the nature of the miraculous opera¬ 
tion would be in every respect equally extraordinary. 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 77 

Another question is as to whether the speakers 
understood what they said in the foreign languages 
The doubt as to this is not raised upon the narrative 
of the Pentecost, but on certain expressions used 
by St. Paul in writing to the Corinthians. There 
he says, “Let him that speaketh in an unknown 
tongue pray that he may interpretand again, 
“ If one speak in an unknown tongue, let one inter 
pret.” Hence it would appear that some could 
speak with tongues, who could not render into their 
own language that which they had spoken. This, 
however, is not clear; for he also says, “ Greater is 
he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with 
tongues, except he interpret, that the Church may 
receive edification .” Here he supposes, that the 
person who possesses the gift of tongues, ’does also 
possess the power of interpreting into the common 
language, that which he has uttered in a miraculous 
way. 

But, even granting that some were unable to 
interpret, so as to edify the Church , that which 
they had themselves spoken, it would appear that 
this did not at all arise from their not understand¬ 
ing what they had said, but from their being desti¬ 
tute of the gift of prophecy, whereby only they 
could edify believers. As to any doubt whether 
the person speaking really understood his own ut¬ 
terances, it is completely removed by the text, 1 


18 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


Cor. xiv. 14-19: “For if I pray in an unknown 
tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is 
unfruitful. What is it then ? I will pray with the 
spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also 
I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the 
understanding also. Else when thou shall bless 
with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the 
room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of 
thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou say- 
est ? For thou verily givest thanks well, but the 
other is not edified. I thank my God, I speak 
with tongues more than ye all: yet in the Church 
I had rather speak five words with my understand¬ 
ing, that by my voice I might teach others also, 
than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.” 
Here, publicly praising “ with the understanding” 
is taken to be, so praising that a common man may 
understand ; and publicly preaching “ with the 
understanding” is taken to be, so to speak as to 
“ teach others also.” To praise and to preach in 
public without these, is to act without understand 
mg. The words, “He understandeth not what 
thou sayest,” though “thou verily givest thanks 
well,” settle the whole matter. They take it for 
granted—as, indeed, the Apostle does all through 
—that the speaker clearly understands himself; 
but the fault is, that he uses speech which was 
never given for the sake of intercourse with God, 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 79 


but for that of intercourse with man, in a way that 
defeats its own object. Speech is man’s revelation 
of his own spirit to his fellow man ; and when noth¬ 
ing is revealed, it becomes a mockery. Feelings 
and thoughts are the language which God listens 
to; man hearkens in the air, God in the soul within. 
To speak to Him we need no sounds; sounds are 
for human ears, and useful only when the ear can 
recognize the meaning. The fact that some who 
could not prophesy could yet speak with tongues, 
is apparent in several parts of Scripture, and is a 
singular proof at once of the generality and the 
diversity of gifts. The lower gift, that of tongues, 
was more generally diffused than the higher, that 
of prophecy. 


The miracle indicated not only the origin of the 
new doctrine, but also its sphere. It was a mes¬ 
sage from the Father of men to all men. National 
diversities, instead of being a barrier before which 
it stood still, were opportunities to display its uni¬ 
versal adaptation. Each various tongue was made 
an additional witness that it had come for “ every 
people under heaven.” Our Lord’s last words, “the 
uttermost parts of the earth,” had here a strange and 
multiplying echo. A force was set in motion, which 
claimed all humanity as its field; a voice was lifted 
up, which called upon every nation to j oin its audience. 


80 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


Again, this manifestation met and answered all 
doubts which might have arisen as to the power of 
our Lord to gift His servants with language and 
utterance needful for their coming contest with the 
whole world. He had told them that, when brought 
before rulers and kings for His name’s sake, it would 
be given to them what they should say: “ For it is 
not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father 
which speaketh in you.”* He had evidently referred 
to such Divine aid in speech , when He told them 
that they should receive power after that the Holy 
Ghost was come upon them, and that they should 
be His witnesses , even “ to the uttermost parts of 
the earth.” Moses had feared to plead before 
Pharaoh, from a dread that utterance equal to the 
gravity of the mission could not be given to him. 
Jeremiah had feared on a similar ground. 

Nothing is more natural than that one who feels 
himself charged with a sublime truth, on the proper 
delivery of which infinite interests depend, should 
distrust his ability to frame suitable language. It is 
very probable that such thoughts had troubled the 
disciples in the contemplation of the great work 
which lay before them. If so, what an answer did 
they receive in the miracle of tongues! He who 
enabled their lips to pour forth the testimony in 
words they had never spoken, and never heard, 
* Matt. x. 20. 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIKE. 81 

iould surely give them every measure of propriety, 
of clearness, of copiousness, of power, whereof 
human speech was capable. All questions as to how 
copious diction could be imparted to the unready, 
and force to the feeble, how the slow could be made 
impressive, and the tame eloquent, were here an¬ 
swered. The old promise, “ I will be with thy 
mouth,” received an unlooked-for commentary. The 
effects which the Spirit of the Lord could produce 
upon the human tongue, were shown to be illimita¬ 
ble by any natural impediment. The ground of 
confidence as to their success in preaching was con¬ 
spicuously changed from talent, learning, office, or 
credentials, to the working of the Holy Ghost. 
Their power ceased to be a question of natural 
ability, and became one of divine gift. The meas¬ 
ure of the former might be greater or less, without 
materially affecting the fruit of their work; but 
this would exactly correspond with the degree of 
the latter. 

Andrew had heard the Baptist preach, had seen 
how his words plowed up the rude feelings of the 
soldier, and at the same time commanded the subtle 
conscience of the scribe. He had heard the Lord 
Himself, when every word struck the ear as a won¬ 
der. Probably he had always thought it impossible 
that such sword-edged sentences should ever come 
from his lips, or from those of “ his own brother 
6 


82 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


Simon.” He might conceive that he should be able 
to repeat the substance of the lessons which the 
Lord had taught them, and that, when he stood be¬ 
fore counselors and magistrates, he should be enar 
bled to assign a reason for his hope. Perhaps he 
would think it possible that, when filled with that 
new Comforter, who had been so often promised to 
them, he could address a multitude with feeling. 
But, as to words like fire, melting and burning the 
spirits of men—words like hammers, breaking in 
pieces the hearts of stone—words that should rush 
on the congregation with a force too overwhelming 
to be called eloquence—should win a conquest too 
rapid and too complete to be called persuasion— 
should make the speaker not only a prodigy, but a 
power—his hearers not only an orator’s audience, 
but a Master’s disciples—as to such words as these, 
how was it possible that they should ever proceed 
from him, or Simon ? So might he naturally reason; 
but when he finds himself fluently telling a man 
from the shores of Cyrene the whole story of the 
birth, and death, and resurrection, and ascension, in 
a tongue which he had never heard before ; when 
the African assures him that it was the tongue of 
his native town, then, had you asked him, “ Is it 
now impossible that you or Simon should speak with 
a voice mightier than the voice of a prophet, or that 
the least of your company should be greater than 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 83 

the thunder-tongued Baptist?” he had answered, 
“ With God nothing is impossible.” 

“ And it sat upon each of them. And they were 
all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak 
with other tongues, as the Spirit g^ve them utter¬ 
ance.” The tongue of fire rested upon each disci¬ 
ple, and all spoke with a superhuman utterance. 
Not the Twelve only, the Lord’s chosen Apostles; 
not the Seventy only, His commissioned Evange¬ 
lists ; but also the ordinary believers, and even the 
women. The baptism of the Spirit fell upon all, 
and spiritual gifts were imparted to all—not equally; 
for the expression, “ As the Spirit gave them utter¬ 
ance,” seems to indicate a diversity of gifts, which 
accords with other passages in the New Testament. 
It is not probable that each one could speak every 
language; for St. Paul says of himself, that he 
“spake with tongues more than they all,” clearly 
implying a limit in that gift, and a different limit in 
different persons. And it is certain that all had not 
the gift of “ prophesying” suited to address such 
congregations as that soon about to meet, or even 
publicly to teach in ordinary assemblies. As in His 
later operations, so now, the blessed Spirit would 
doubtless show “ diversities of operations,” giving to 
“ one the word of wisdom, to another the word of 
knowledge, to another prophecy,” etc. But the 


84 


THE TONGUE OF FIBE. 


cloven tongues sat upon each of them, and, by the 
joint effect of spiritual life imparted and of spirit¬ 
ual gifts bestowed, all were instantly set upon spir¬ 
itual services; all led to become active witnesses for 
Christ and for His cross. 

The fire did not fall on the Twelve to be by them 
communicated to the Seventy, and by them again 
to the ordinary flock. It came as directly on the 
head of the disciple whose name we never heard, 
as on that of the beloved and honored John. It 
did not confound John the Apostle in the promis¬ 
cuous mass, or place his office at the disposal of the 
multitude; but confirmed it, and fitted him by new 
gifts to adorn and make full proof of his ministry. 
But it did not, on the other hand, leave the ordinary 
believers as mere spectators to see the spiritual work 
of the Lord committed wholly to the selected minis¬ 
try ; their part being passively to receive spiritual 
influences and illumination from those who had direct 
access to Him with whom is the supply of the Spirit. 

This original blessing meets beforehand the error, 
which was likely to spring up, from looking on the 
true religion in the light in which all false ones are 
ever regarded—as a mystery to be confined to an 
initiated few, on whose offices the multitude must 
depend for acceptance with the invisible Power. 
Here was a religion that did single out and lift up 
some above their fellows, investing them with a hiah 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 85 

and solemn ministry; but from their ministry it 
swept away all seeming priesthood. 

The usual idea of priesthood is that of a power 
standing between man and God, through which 
alone we may draw near, and find mercy at His 
hands. But so far from any such characteristic be¬ 
longing to the ministry of the Gospel, it is distin¬ 
guished as being an office, the special labor of which 
is to point each man direct to God, and to assure 
him that between him and the throne of grace there. 
is no power, visible or invisible, and no mediator 
but that One to whom alike Apostle, Evangelist, 
and the humblest penitent must look. True, all 
were not Apostles, all were not Evangelists, all 
were not Prophets; but, in the only sense in which 
any were Priests, all were Priests. The one altar 
of the Cross, the one sacrifice of the Lamb, the one 
High Priest within the vail, were alone to be named 
in any light of peace-making with God. To all, the 
privilege of offering up the sacrifices of praise and 
of prayer, of living bodies and of worldly goods, 
was equally open. No man was made a depository 
or store-house wherein spiritual favors should be 
laid up for the use of those who might purchase or 
implore them at his hands. He was most honored 
who could most successfully turn the trust of men 
away from all other advocates, and fix it upon the 
Son of God alone. 


86 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


“ They all began to speak.” This shows that the 
testimony of Christ was not borne by the Ministry 
alone; that this chief work of the Church was not 
confined to official hands. The multitude of be¬ 
lievers were not mere adherents, but living, speak¬ 
ing, burning agents in the great movements for the 
universal diffusion of God’s message. Many feel as 
if religion, on the part of the Ministry, was to be a 
matter of bold and public testimony; but on that 
of ordinary Christians, a heart-secret between them¬ 
selves and God. Let such sit down in sight of that 
first Christian scene; let them behold every counte¬ 
nance lighted up with the common joy, and hear 
every tongue speak under the common impulse, 
and then ask Bartimeus, or Mary, if the private 
disciple has not just as much cause to be a witness 
that Jesus lives, and that Jesus saves, as either 
James or John ? Let them ask if it is like their 
religion that one lonely Minister shall, on the Lord’s 
day, bear witness before a thousand Christians, who 
decorously hear his testimony as worthy of accept¬ 
ance by all, and then go away, and never repeat the 
strain in any human ear ? 

Looking on the universal movement of that Pente¬ 
costal day, who could think that the new religion 
was ever to come down to this ? that speaking of 
its joys, its hopes, its pardon, its mercy for the wide 
world, was to be considered a professional work, for 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 87 

set solemnities alone, and not to be a daily joy 
and heart’s-ease, to ever-growing multitudes of 
happy, simple men ? Cheerless is the work of that 
Christian Minister, who, at set times, raises his 
testimony in the ears of a people, all of whom 
make a practice of hiding it in their hearts ! 
Blessed in his office is he who knows that, while 
he in his own sphere proclaims the glad tidings, 
hundreds around him are ready, each one in his 
sphere, to make them their boast and their song! 
Spiritual office and spiritual gifts vary greatly in de¬ 
gree, honor, and authority, and he who has the less 
ought to reverence him who has the greater, re¬ 
membering who it is that dispenses them ; but 
the greater should never attempt to extinguish 
the less, and to reduce the exercise of spiritual 
gifts within the limits of the public and ordained 
Ministry. To do so is to depart from primitive 
Christianity. 


CHAPTER IV. 


CONTINUED. 

. . I 

SECTION III.-MINISTERIAL EFFECTS. 

In immediate connection with the gift of tongues, 
was a gift less startling as a phenomenon, but more 
influential as an instrument for the recovery of 
mankind. Peter was soon called upon publicly to 
deliver the Lord’s great message. Then, undoubt¬ 
edly, he spoke not in any foreign tongue, but 
in his native dialect. He had often spoken before, 
yet nothing remarkable is recorded of his preach¬ 
ing, or its effects. He is now the same man, 
with the same natural intellect, and the same 
natural powers of speech ; and yet a new utterance 
Is given to him, the effects of which are instantly 
apparent. 

Never was such an audience assembled as that 
before which this poor fisherman appeared: Jews, 
with all the prejudices of their race—inhabitants of 
Jerusalem, with the recollection of the part they 
had recently taken in the crucifixion of Jesus of 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 89 

Nazareth, met in the city of their solemnities, jeal¬ 
ous for the honor of their temple and law: men of 
different nations, rapidly and earnestly speaking in 
their different tongues; one in Hebrew, mocking 
and saying, “ These men are full of new wine 
another inquiring in Latin; another disputing in 
Greek ; another wondering in Arabic; and an end¬ 
less Babel beside expressing every variety of sur¬ 
prise, doubt, and curiosity. Amid such a scene the 
fisherman stands up; his voice strikes across the 
hum which prevails all down the street. He has 
no tongue of silver; for they say, “ He is an un¬ 
learned and ignorant man.” The rudeness of his 
Galilean speech still remains with him; yet, though 
“unlearned and ignorant” in their sense—as to 
polite learning—in a higher sense he was a scribe 
well instructed. As respected the word of God, 
he had been for three years under the constant 
tuition of the Prophet of Nazareth, hearing from 
His lips instruction in the law, in the Prophets, 
and in all the “ deep things of God.” On what¬ 
ever other points, therefore, the learned of Jerusa¬ 
lem might have found Peter at fault, in the sacred 
writings he was more thoroughly furnished than 
they; for though Christ took His Apostles from 
among the poor, He left us no example for those 
who have not well learned the Bible, to attempt to 
teach it. 


90 


THE TONGUE OP FIRE. 


Yet Peter had no tongue of silver, no tongue of 
honey, no soothing, flattering speech, to allay the 
prejudices and to captivate the passions of the mul¬ 
titude. Nor had he a tongue of thunder ; no out¬ 
bursts of native eloquence distinguished his dis¬ 
course. Indeed, some, if they had heard that dis¬ 
course from ordinary lips, would not have hesitated 
to pronounce it dry—some of a class, too numerous, 
who do not like preachers who put them to the 
trouble of thinking, but enjoy only those who regale 
£heir fancy, or move their feelings, without requir¬ 
ing any labor of thought. Peter’s sermon is no 
more than quoting passages from the word of God, 
and reasoning upon them; yet, as in this strain he 
proceeds, the tongue of fire by degrees burns its 
way to the feelings of the multitude. The murmur 
gradually subsides; the mob becomes a congrega¬ 
tion ; the voice of the fisherman sweeps from end 
to end of that multitude, unbroken by a single 
sound; and, as the words rush on, they act like a 
stream of fire. Now, one coating of prejudice 
which covered the feelings is burned, and starts 
aside: now, another and another: now, the fire 
touches the inmost covering of prejudice, which 
lay close upon the heart, and it too starts aside. 
Now, it touches the quick, and burns the very soul 
of the man! Presently, you might think that in 
that throng there was but one mind, that of the 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 91 

Preacher, which had multiplied itself, had possessed 
itself of thousands of hearts, and thousands of 
frames, and was pouring its own thoughts through 
them all. At length, shame, and tears, and sobs 
overspread that whole assembly. Here, a head 
bows; there, starts a groan; yonder, rises a deep 
sigh; here, tears are falling; and some stern old 
Jew, who will neither bow nor weep, trembles with 
the effort to keep himself still. At length, from 
the depth of the crowd, the voice of the preacher 
is crossed by a cry, as if one was “ mourning for his 
only son;” and it is answered by a cry, as if one 
was in “ bitterness for his first-born.” At this cry 
the whole multitude is carried away, and forgetful 
of every thing but the overwhelming feeling of the 
moment, they exclaim, “ Men and brethren, what 
must we do ?” 

JSTo part of the proceedings of the day strikes us 
with a deeper or more lasting impression than the 
amazing change in Peter, which is here manifest. 
We are continually prone to consider the power of 
a Minister as a natural power, simply intellectual. 
Here was a man who, in all probability, had passed 
the period of life when eloquence is most forcible, 
without having distinguished himself by any such 
power. He comes forward with a most unwelcome 
message, to address an unfavorable audience, him¬ 
self unskilled in the arts of oratory; and yet, such 


92 


THE TONGUE OF FIKE. 


is the power of utterance given to him, that he 
produces an effect, the like of which had never 
been known before in the history of mankind. 
Never has it been recorded in any other instance, 
that three thousand men were in an hour persuaded 
by one of their own nation, of obscure origin and 
uninfluential position, to forego the prejudices of 
their youth, the favor of their people, and the 
religion of their fathers. “I will be with thy 
mouth,” is more strikingly fulfilled here, in those 
extraordinary effects of the speaking of an ordinary 
man, than in any other form in which the power of 
God could be displayed, through the instrument¬ 
ality of a human tongue. There is no part of the 
whole series of events which has a more direct 
bearing upon the permanent work of the Christian 
Church. 

This is the first example of prophesying in the 
New Testament sense; not the limited sense of 
foretelling, but the more comprehensive sense of 
delivering a message from God, under the impulse 
of the Spirit of God, and by His aid. In this the 
speaker has the double advantage of ascertained 
truth to declare—truth which his own understand¬ 
ing has received, which he can enforce by citing 
the word of God—and of aid direct from the Spirit 
in uttering it. This gift is conspicuously placed by 
St. Paul above that of tongues: “ Greater is he 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 93 

that prophesieth than he that speaketh with 
tongues.” The gift of tongues was “ for a sign 
to them that believe notand even to them only 
under certain circumstances, when they were ad¬ 
dressed in a tongue which they understood, and 
that by one of whom they had proof, or what 
amounted to strong probability, that he had -not 
learned it in a natural mode. For the union of 
these tw r o requisites nothing was so favorable as the 
meeting of a number of foreigners in one city, and 
hearing natives of the country speak all their dif¬ 
ferent languages. A foreigner appearing in a city, 
and professing to speak its language by miracle, 
would lie under the suspicion of having learned it 
before he came ; and persons speaking foreign 
tongues in the presence of their own unlearned 
countrymen, would seem to utter gibberish. This 
Paul puts strongly to the Corinthians: “ If the 
whole Church be come together into one place, and 
all speak with tongues, and there come in those 
that are unlearned , or unbelievers , will they not say 
that ye are mad ?” 

If a number of persons in Corinth had a gift in 
Hebrew, or in Latin, and their fellow-townsmen, 
who knew only Greek, came and heard a rush of 
unmeaning sounds, and were told that it was a 
miracle, it might be, but it was no miracle to them. 
If they saw an African peasant speaking fluently in 


94 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


Greek, then, indeed, they would he startled; and 
if once assured by any means that he had not 
learned it, they would recognize a miracle. 

But the effect of persons resident in a place using 
the gift of tongues could only be to satisfy the 
learned of a miracle. For the unlearned it would 
be simply bewildering. Suppose that, in the city 
of Oxford, the stonemasons, joiners, and shoe¬ 
makers heard a few of their own number utter¬ 
ing something in Latin, they would only be im¬ 
pressed with a belief that they had gone mad, 01 
were amusing themselves with gibberish. But did 
the learned men of the University find these 
groups discoursing on the doctrines of the Gospel 
in the language of ancient Rome, which it had been 
the study and the labor of their lives to acquire 
perfectly, they would be overwhelmed with a sense 
of the prodigy. All through the fourteenth chap¬ 
ter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul 
admits that upon the learned the gift of tongues 
would make an impression ; but that the unlearned, 
if believers, would be unedified, and, if unbelievers, 
would be led to mock. 

To the higher gift of prophecy he assigns two 
offices which that of tongues could never fulfill. 
One is the edifying of believers ; and on this score 
he much urges the Corinthians to seek for that 
gift. The other is its effect upon the unlearned 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 95 

■unbeliever. “ If all prophesy, and there come in 
one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is con¬ 
vinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the 
secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling 
down on his face he will worship God, and report 
that God is in you of a truth.” Here is a man who 
knows no language but one, and who has no faith 
in the Divine mission of the Christians; yet he en¬ 
ters an assembly where men are speaking in his 
own tongue: that tongue, as to its words, is familiar 
to him from his childhood; but its words now con¬ 
vey new ideas, and those ideas are accompanied by 
a strange power which pierces, lays open, and 
searches his heart. He seems as if God had found 
him out, and told another man all about him, his 
hidden sins, his bosom pollutions, and covered 
deeds which had been even forgotten, but which 
now are brought strangely to his view again. An 
unaccountable impression of God’s presence, of a 
message, a warning, a call from God, sinks down 
into his soul. He feels, as he never felt before, 
“ God is in this place and, falling down upon his 
face, forgetful of appearances, and heedless of con¬ 
sequences, periling his temporal peace, and expos¬ 
ing himself to every manner of remark, he wor¬ 
ships, in bitterness of penitence, an offended, but a 
forgiving God, and goes forth to tell those with 
whom he comes in contact, that the people whose 


96 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


words had searched his heart and made manifest its 
secrets must have God in the midst of them. This 
was the gift of prophecy, as the term is generally 
employed in the New Testament. It differs from 
prophecy in the ordinary sense in this, that the gift 
conveys no “ revelation,” either as to truth hitherto 
unrevealed, or as to future events. It differs from 
the gift of tongues in this, that the intellect and or¬ 
gans act according to natural laws, though under a 
supernatural influence. It is that gift through 
which the whole of man’s nature works in co-oper¬ 
ation with the Holy Spirit, the intellect illuminated 
with Divine light, the moral powers quickened by 
Divine feeling, and the physical organs speaking 
with Divine power. This is placed by the Apostle 
as the highest gift—the one wherein man stands 
closest in communion with God as His intelligent 
instrument for His most hallowed work—the work 
of calling prodigal sons back to His arms, and of 
training feeble children into strength and stedfast- 
ness. This gift was that which had the most direct 
utility, was capable of the most universal applica¬ 
tion, and was destined to be permanent; equally 
needful for the converting of sinners and the edify¬ 
ing of the Church; and therefore to be ever kept 
in view by the Church as a special subject of pray¬ 
er: for, let this cease, and Christianity dwindles 
into a natural agency for social improvement, 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 9 1 

blessed with superhuman doctrines, but destitute 
of a superhuman power. 

If the preaching of the Gospel is to exercise a 
great power over mankind, it must be either by en¬ 
listing extraordinary men, or by the endowing of 
ordinary men with extraordinary power. It does 
often happen that men whose eloquence would affect 
and sway, whatever might have been their theme, 
give all their talents to the Gospel; yet in such cases 
it ever proves that the religious impression produced 
upon mankind is never regulated by the brilliancy 
or natural force of the eloquence, but always by the 
extent to which the preacher is imbued with that 
indescribable something commonly called the “ unc¬ 
tion,’’ or the operation and power of the Spirit. 
On the other hand, it often happens that a man in 
whose natural gifts nothing extraordinary can be 
discovered, produces moral effects which, for depth 
at the moment, and for permanency, are totally dis- 
proportioned to his natural powers. In hearing 
such a man, and afterward discovering the effects 
of his preaching, people often ask, “ What is there 

in Mr.-to account for such effects? We hear 

many who are abler, profounder, better theologians, 
more eloquent, more persuasive; yet this man’s 
preaching brings people to repentance and to God.” 
They can not discover the source of his power; and it 
is precisely this fact which intimates that it is spiritual. 

7 


98 


THE TONGIJE OP FIRE. 


On the day of Pentecost Christianity faced the 
world, a new religion, and a poor one, without a 
history, without a priesthood, without a college, 
without a people, and without a patron. She had 
only her two sacraments and her tongue of fire. 
The latter was her sole instrument of aggression. 
All that was ancient and venerable rose up before 
her in solid opposition. No passions of the mob, no 
theories of the learned, no interests of the politic 
favored her; nor did she flatter or conciliate any 
one of them. With her tongue of fire she assailed 
every existing system, and every evil habit; and 
by that tongue of fire she burned her way through 
innumerable forms of opposition. In asking what 
was her power, we can find no other answer than 
this one, “ The tongue of fire.” 

With regard to one of her Deacons, Stephen, it 
is said that his enemies could not resist the wisdom 
and the power with which he spoke. It was not 
every disciple who had the gift of prophecy, like 
him, to pour out in clear and copious utterance the 
testimony which could command the attention of 
national councils, and confound the sophisms of a 
college of disputers; but, each in “his own sphere 
and style, the Christians of that happy day were 
distinguished among their fellow-men by a strange 
power of declaring the deep things of God. Many 
of them would go, like Andrew, who went first to 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 99 

“ his own brother Simon,” and tell their kinsmen of 
Jesus, and forgiveness, and the resurrection of the 
dead, and the world to come, in strains which, by 
some unaccountable power, fixed the attention and 
entered the heart. Others of them would go, as 
did the brothers of Nathanael, telling the neghbors 
and friends whom they met the great things of re¬ 
demption, so that prejudices, even the strongest 
were often melted in tlfe fire of their speech. True, 
they did not always succeed, but how marvelous 
their success was notwithstanding! Had Christians 
of the present day, in addressing those whose con¬ 
science, creed, early impressions, all favor every 
word they say, but that strange influence which 
bore down the most rooted aversion, how rapid and 
how glorious would be the spread of living religion 
in the land! 

This power of utterance is ordinarily referred to 
throughout the New Testament as at once the gift 
of God and the great weapon of the Church. We 
have already noticed how, when opposition first 
threatened them, they went in earnest prayer to 
God, and asked for power, that they might speak 
His word with boldness. So when any one of them, 
in critical circumstances, is enabled specially to de¬ 
clare and magnify the Truth, we are told that he 
does so, u being filled with the Holy Ghostand 
Paul, who, though he was not present on the day 


100 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


of Pentecost, received the tongue of fire in a very 
remarkable degree, did not hold that gift as being 
constitutional, like natural talents and aptitude of 
speech. Among the subjects with regard to which 
he entreats the prayers of his Christian brethren, he 
specially mentions “ utterance.” “ Praying always 
with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and 
watching thereunto with all perseverance and sup¬ 
plication for all saints; ancf for me , that utterance 
may be given unto me , that I may open my mouth 
boldly to make known th£ riches of the Gospel.” 
Again and again have we brought before us the 
fact, that this utterance is the direct gift of God; 
nor are we without traces of the same fact in earlier 
times than those of Christianity. In the cases of 
Mary and Elizabeth, we hear them, under the influ¬ 
ence of the Divine Spirit, uttering great and glori¬ 
ous things. In the cases of Jeremiah and Isaiah, 
we find the Lord making Himself their strength in 
regard to the message wherewith He charged 
them; and in the case of Moses, the gift of speech 
was especially promised to him, but his faith failed, 
and consequently another had to exercise that 
power which, had he believed, he himself would 
have fully possessed. 

In all the history of the primitive Christians, we 
find traces of the effect produced upon men by the 
testimony they bore, even when bearing it undei 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 101 

the constraint of public persecution, and in the face 
of impending danger. Without a press, without a 
literature, without any of our modern means of in¬ 
fluencing masses of men; cast solely on the one in¬ 
strument of the tongue, and in that destitute of the 
wisdom of the Greek, and of the skill of the scribe; 
seldom favored with the opportunity of repeatedly 
addressing numerous assemblies of the same indi¬ 
viduals ; destitute of prestige, contemptible in num¬ 
bers, rustic in manners, and thwarted by circum¬ 
stances ; strong only in the one peculiar attribute— 
the unseen fire which filled them; on they went, 
and on, turning the hearts of their enemies, and 
advancing the name of the Lord. 

Religion has never, in any period, sustained itself 
except by the instrumentality of the tongue of fire. 
Only where some men, more or less imbued with 
this primitive power, have spoken the words of the 
Lord, not with “the words which man’s wisdom 
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth,” have 
sinners been converted, and saints prompted to a 
saintlier life. In many periods of the history of the 
Church, as this gift has waned, every natural ad¬ 
vantage has come to replace it:—more learning, 
more system, more calmness, more profoundness of 
reflection, every thing, in fact, which, according to 
the ordinary rules of human thought, would insure 
to the Christian Church a greater command over 


102 THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 

the intellect of mankind, and would give her argu¬ 
ments in favor of a holy life a more potent efficacy. 
Yet it has ever proved that the gain of all this, 
when accompanied with an abatement of the “fire,” 
has left the Church less efficient; and her elaborate 
and weighty lessons have transformed few into 
saints, though her simple tongue of fire had contin¬ 
ually reared up its monuments of wonder. This 
has been not less the case in modern times than in 
ancient. 

If the amazing revival which characterized the 
last century, be viewed merely as a natural pro¬ 
gress of mental influence, no analysis can find ele¬ 
ments of power greater than have often existed in a 
corrupting and falling Church, or than are found at 
many periods when no blessed effects are produced. 
Men equally learned, eloquent, orthodox, instruct¬ 
ive, may be found in many ages of Christianity. It 
is utterly impossible to assign a natural reason why 
Whitfield should have been the means of convert¬ 
ing so many more sinners than other men. With¬ 
out one trace of logic, philosophy, or any thing 
worthy to be called systematic theology, his ser¬ 
mons, viewed intellectually, take an humble place 
among humble efforts. Turning again to his friend, 
Wesley, we find calmness, clearness, logic, theology, 
discussion, definition, point, appeal, but none of 
that prodigious and unaccountable power which the 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 103 

human intellect would naturally connect with move¬ 
ments so amazing as those which took place under 
his word. Neither the logic of the one, nor the 
declamation of the other, furnishes us with the se¬ 
cret of his success. There is enough to account for 
men being affected, excited, or convinced; but that 
does not account for their living holy lives ever 
after. Thousands of pulpit orators have swayed 
their audience, as a wind sways standing corn; but, 
in the result, thos$ who were most affected, differed 
nothing from their former selves. An effect of elo¬ 
quence is sufficient to account for a vast amount of 
feeling at the moment; but to trace to this a moral 
power, by which a man, for his life long, overcomes 
his besetting sins, and adorns his name with Chris¬ 
tian virtues, is to make sport of human nature. 

Why should these men have done what many 
equally learned and able, as divines and orators, 
never did ? There must have been an element of 
power in them. which criticism can not discover. 
What was that power ? It must be judged of by 
its sphere and its effects. Where did it act ? and 
what did it produce? Every power has its own 
sphere. The strongest arm will never convince the 
understanding, the most forcible reasoning will 
never lift a weight, the brightest sunbeam will never 
pierce a plate of iron, nor the most powerful magnet 
move a pane of glass. The soul of man has separate 


104 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


regions, and that which merely convinces the intel¬ 
lect may leave the emotions untouched, that which 
merely operates on the emotions may leave the un¬ 
derstanding unsatisfied, and that which affects both 
may yet leave the morai powers uninspired. The 
crowning power of the messenger of God is power 
over the moral man; power which, whether it ap¬ 
proaches the soul through the avenue of the intel¬ 
lect or of the affections, does reach into the soul 
The sphere of true Christian power is the heart— 
the moral man; and the result of its action is not 
to be surely distinguished from that of mere elo¬ 
quence by instantaneous emotion, but by subse¬ 
quent moral fruit. Power which cleanses the 
heart, and produces holy living, is the power of the 
Holy Ghost. It may be through the logic of Wes¬ 
ley, the declamation of Whitfield, or the simple 
common-sense of a plain servant-woman or laboring 
man; but whenever this power is in action, it 
strikes deeper into human nature than any mere 
reasoning or pathos. Possibly it does not so soon 
bring a tear to the eye, or throw the judgment into 
a posture of acquiescence; but it raises in the 
breast thoughts of God, eternity, sin, death, heaven, 
and hell; raises them, not as mere ideas, opinions, 
or articles of faith, but as the images and echoes of 
real things. 

We may find in many parts of the country, where 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 105 

tnuch has been done to dispel darkness and diffuse 
true religion, that some of the first triumphs of 
grace were entirely due to the wonderful effects 
produced by the private and fire-side talking of 
some humble Christians, who had themselves gone 
to the throne of grace, and waited there until they 
had received the baptism of fire. 

In proportion as the power of this one instrument 
is overlooked, and other means are trusted in to 
supply its place, does the true force of Christian 
agency decline; and it may without hesitation be 
said, that when men holding the Christian ministry, 
habitually and constantly manifest their distrust in 
the power of the Holy Ghost to give them utter¬ 
ance, they publicly abjure the true theory of Chris¬ 
tian preaching. It is, according to the authority of 
its Author, delivering a message from God—a mes¬ 
sage through man, it is true; but delivered not 
with the excellency of man’s speech, not under the 
guidance of man’s natural wisdom; a message, the 
effect of which does not rest upon the artistic ar¬ 
rangement, choice, and order of words, but upon 
the extent to which its utterance is pervaded by the 
Holy Ghost. 


CHAPTER IV. 


CONTINUED. 

SECTION' IY.—EFFECTS UPON THE WORLD. 

When the promise of the Spirit was given, our 
Lord expressly intimated that His influence should 
not he confined to the Church, but that He should 
u convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, 
and of judgment.” It was only thus that the Church 
could be extended beyond the number of the orig¬ 
inal disciples. Through the gifts bestowed upon 
Peter, the Spirit moved to the fulfillment of His 
great office in the hearts of worldly men. Both the 
miraculous and the ministerial gifts were made sub¬ 
servient to this end. The former was a wonder 
which raised curiosity and then amazement, which 
brought together a multitude, first excited, finally 
awed. This, however, was all it did. Had the 
events of the day ended with the pure effect of 
the miracle, perhaps no Jew would have become 
a Christian, and certainly no sinner would have 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 107 

become a saint. The miracle prepared an audi¬ 
ence for the preacher; but it did not convert, and 
did not even instruct them: no one there knew 
the doctrine of the incarnation, and its glorious con¬ 
comitants, when Peter stood up to preach. All that 
the gift of tongues did was to produce an impression 
that these men were messengers of God. And even 
this it did not produce on all; for some mocked; 
probably people of the place, on whom the effect of 
the foreign tongues was lost. 

The entire advantage which Peter, as a preacher 
of Christianity, derived from the evidences of his 
religion, when he stood up on the day of Pentecost, 
amounted to this: a large number of men were 
congregated in a state of much agitation, fresh from 
the impression of a prodigy before unimagined, and 
with a strong suspicion that the preacher and his 
coadjutors were probably teachers from God. His 
advantage, as compared with a modern preacher, 
lay in the freshness of this feeling—in the opened 
state of the mind just after an indisputable marvel 
had forced a passage through all its prejudices. 
His disadvantages lay in the comparative ignorance 
of his hearers, in their disbelief of most of the points 
wherewith he wished to impress them, in the 
amount of religious and national prejudice which 
fortified this belief, in the array of temporal inter¬ 
ests which stood up against his appeal, in the dis- 


108 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


credit attached to his position, the obscurity of his 
person, and the rustic stamp of his speech. 

Putting his single advantage on the one side, and 
his many disadvantages on the other, we naturally 
raise the question, Had he more advantage from the 
miracle of tongues than the modern preacher has 
from the Christian evidences generally ? It would 
he hard to exaggerate the value of that freshness of 
impression under which he found his hearers ; yet, 
taking the whole course of human nature, the mir¬ 
acle, whether in the hand of Moses, the Prophets, 
or the Lord Himself—however mighty as an instru¬ 
ment of impression, as a credential of a Divine mis¬ 
sion, never proved an instrument of moral regener¬ 
ation to the people. 

From the Pentecostal and other miracles, from 
the whole array of the Christian evidences, the 
modern preacher derives the advantage of an audi¬ 
ence who believe that every doctrine he propounds 
is truly the word of God. Within their conscience 
he has far more on his side than Peter had in the 
consciences of his auditory. Peter had the advan¬ 
tage of a fresh and excited feeling: the modern 
preacher has that of standing closer home upon the 
conscience. The latter often thinks how much might 
be effected had he only some such supernatural 
sign as arrested the multitude on the day of Pente¬ 
cost : what would Peter have thought of his pros- 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 109 

pects, if, instead of such an audience as he had, one 
had been offered to him where all believed that his 
Master was the Son of God, and that there was “ no 
other name given under heaven among men where¬ 
by we must be saved ?” 

The effect of the miracle was a general impression 
in favor of the Divine origin of the message. At 
this point the ministerial gift came into operation. 
By an ability clearly to state and argue the truth, 
Peter was enabled to put the understanding of his 
hearers into possession of the great revelation, that 
God had sent His Son to redeem them. By a sacred 
pathos, he was enabled to engage their sympathies 
in favor of each truth, as he presented it. Clear and 
feeling utterance of the Gospel was his ministerial 
gift: understanding and impression were its effects. 

The united effect of the miraculous and ministerial 
gift amounted to—favorable attention, understand¬ 
ing of the truth, and inclination to embrace it. But 
had no power beyond the testimony of the miracle, 
and the appeal of the sermon, touched the souls of 
the auditors, what single individual would have em¬ 
braced truth so dangerous to his respectability and 
comfort, however convinced that it was of heavenly 
origin, and fraught with eternal advantages ? The 
inclination toward such a step raised by Peter’s 
warmth, would have been counteracted by many 
and potent inclinations of interest and of nature. 


110 


TIIE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


Nothing is more common than for the human mind 
to turn its hack upon a truth, firmly believed to be 
from God, deeply felt to carry eternal hopes, but 
demanding the sacrifice of present gratifications, or 
of the friendship of the world. Mere conviction 
never carries a point of practical moral conduct. 

Deeper than the judgment, deeper than the feel¬ 
ings, lies the seat of human character, in that which 
is the mystery of all beings and all things, in what 
we call their 11 nature,” without knowing where it 
lies, what it is, or how it wields its power. All we 
know is, that it does exert a power over external 
circumstances, bending them all in its own direction, 
or breaking its instruments against what it can not 
bend. The nature of an acorn turns dews, air, soils, 
and sunbeams to oak; and though circumstances 
may destroy its power, they can not divert it while 
it survives. It defies man, beast, earth, and sky, to 
make it produce elm. Cultivation may affect its 
quality, and training its form ; but whether it shall 
produce oak, ash, or elm, is a matter into which no 
force from without can enter, a matter not of cir¬ 
cumstances, but purely of nature. To turn nature 
belongs to the Power which originally fixed nature. 

In man feelings and intellect are related to na¬ 
ture, as in a plant tissues and juices: they derive 
their character from nature, and manifest its bent; 
but are not nature, though the means bv which it 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. Ill 


acts on the external world, and is reacted upon by 
it. Nature does not decide the comparative excel 
lence of character in the different members of the 
same species: one oak may be much stronger than 
another, one rose much sweeter; one man much 
wiser, or more generous. The nature of man is es¬ 
sentially moral; and when intellect shoots up to 
eminence, it depends on the moral nature whether 
it is a blessing or a curse to the species, a joy or a 
trouble to the individual. According to the moral 
nature, are the intellectual powers directed ; and in 
man often wastefully, often hurtfully—as to the 
great majority, in ways far below their capability. 
Just as in all other objects, so in man, his nature 
eludes our analysis, lies out of sight, and defies our 
direct influence. We approach it through the intel¬ 
lect, or the feelings; but always with uncertainty, 
never knowing what unseen power may counter¬ 
work our most careful endeavors. 

It is the nature of fallen man to prefer present 
pleasure to the prospect of eternal happiness, the 
favor of the world to the favor of the Almighty; 
to love himself, and forget his Creator. In adults 
this nature is fortified by its own developments; by 
habits and connections which all tend in its own 
direction. When a man’s nature in boyhood pro¬ 
duced fruits of vice and trouble, when his advanc¬ 
ing years have steadily answered the impulse of the 


112 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


same nature, and his present associations are all 
based upon an alienation from heavenly ties; to 
bring him into immediate and permanent conformity 
to a Divine ideal of life, requires the ultimate Power 
of the universe, the Power which rules nature^ and 
through nature circumstances. Set before all the 
wise and good of the world one man of thirty 
years, or upward, whose life has been wicked or 
worldly; and tell them by a word, a warning, or an 
appeal, infallibly to change him then and there to a 
pure man, or to a pious man; and they will each be 
ready to exclaim, “Am I God that I should do 
this?” 

To say that man is the creature of circumstances 
is as much as to say that he is destitute of a nature; 
for, where a nature is, there is a power, a power of 
which circumstances are often the mere effect, but 
are never the masters. Let all the circumstances 
under heaven conspire against the force of nature, 
as embodied in a seed of thorn, and they can never 
defeat it: all the gardeners, manures, heats, and 
waterings possible, would fail to make it produce 
fir. Heap upon it every advantage which art and 
creation can give, and it will steadily turn all to 
thorn, hopelessly incapable of rising above its 
nature. 

Change your treatment, and endeavor to debase 
it, and the same superiority of nature to circum- 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FERE. 113 


stances continues to manifest itself. You may 
starve it to death, you may stunt or blight it, but 
by no adversity will it degenerate to brier; thorn 
in spite of allurements upward, thorn in spite of 
repulses downward: as it can never rise above, so 
it can never sink below, its nature. Circumstances 
are the creatures of natures, not natures of circum¬ 
stances. 

Human nature is said by many to be good: if so,' 
where have social evils come from ? For human 
nature is the only moral nature in that corrupting 
thing called “ society.” Every evil example set be¬ 
fore the child of to-day is the fruit of human nature. 
It has been planted on every possible field—among 
the snows that never melt; in temperate regions, 
and under the line; in crowded cities, in lonely for¬ 
ests; in ancient seats of civilization, in new col¬ 
onies ; and in all these fields it has, without once 
failing, brought forth a crop of sins and troubles. 
This is absolute and inexpugnable proof that human 
nature, in the aggregate, is a seed which produces 
sins and troubles. 

But a proof lies nearer the breast of each man. 
When you meant to do a wrong, and had made up 
your mind upon it, did any instinct within you tell 
you that you were unable, and must seek super¬ 
natural help to carry out your intention? Never. 
You felt that to go forward was not only easy, but 


114 


THE TONGUE OP FIRE. 


almost irresistible; was, in fact, yielding to na¬ 
ture. 

When you had made up your mind to overcome 
wrong inclinations, and to do right, and only right, 
did not an instinct as unfailing as that whereby an 
infant searches for the breast of a mother, teach 
you to seek help, inward help, help against your¬ 
self? A decision to do wrong finds you strong in 
your own strength; a decision to conquer wrong, 
and do right, sends you to your knees, or makes 
you cry, “ God help me!” If that be so, you need 
consult no man’s books as to what side your nature 
is inclined to. 

Man is the only being coming within our knowl¬ 
edge who has a nature that is plainly unnatural. 
This language is not paradoxical for the sake of 
paradox, but for the sake of strictly describing a 
mournful fact. Is a nature natural which can be 
changed without destroying the identity ? That of 
man can be changed, and not only leave his identity 
perfect, but restore the course of a higher, and evi¬ 
dently an older, nature than the one which had pre¬ 
viously reigned. Is a nature natural which urges 
toward courses which blight and ruin? Human 
nature, when least affected by culture, in the lone¬ 
liest and loveliest islands of unfrequented seas, urges 
to courses of headlong ruin and destruction. In the 
highest seats of civilization, it urges men to neglect 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 115 

the God of all, though they believe that to Him 
they are indebted for being, reason, and joy, and 
on Him are dependent for their continuance; urges 
them to neglect objects which they believe to be 
truly noble and of eternal utility, for pleasures 
which they can not help despising, and for gains 
which they know are neither honorable nor lasting. 
In proof of this more than enough is said by the 
simple words, London, Paris, Rome. Yet, while 
their nature is thus over-riding their true dignity, 
true happiness, and true interest, a voice within, as 
if of a friend who has survived from better days, 
is ever protesting against this monstrous condi¬ 
tion of things, and averring that this nature is not 
nature. 

There is not a beast of the field but may trust 
his nature and follow it; certain that it will lead 
him to the best of which he is capable. But as 
for us, our only invincible enemy is our nature; 
were it sound, we could hold circumstances as 
lightly as Samson’s withs; but it is evermore be¬ 
traying us. Often, when we honestly meant to be 
good and noble, our miserable nature, at the first 
favorable juncture of circumstances, betrayed us 
again, and we found ourselves falling by our own 
hands, and bitterly felt that we were our own ene¬ 
mies. Heal us at the heart, and then let the world 
come on! we are ready for the conflict. Make 


116 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


us sound within, and we will stand in the evil 
day. We can defy circumstances, and resist the 
devil, if only our own breast become not a hold of 
traitors; if inclinations, silent, subtle, and strong as 
nature, do not arise to beguile us into captivity to 
evil. 

You tell us to withstand these inclinations, not to 
yield to our impulses, but to subject them to 
reason; that is, not to follow nature which is in¬ 
ward and impulsive, but to be guided by external 
indexes which Observation notes, Reason interprets, 
and Will may apply to the control of nature. That, 
in fact, is saying, “ Do not live by your nature, but 
resist your nature.” What a world of appalling 
truth comes in with that one admonition! My 
nature not a nature to live by! Self-regard putting 
me on the watch against nature! A nature, and 
that the highest nature in this terrestrial system, 
self-injurious! This is not Thy handiwork, O Eter¬ 
nal Parent, Author of order, beauty, and love; 
Creator of natures, each of which is in unison with 
itself, and in harmony with all Thy other creat¬ 
ures ! What has happened since man first left Thy 
hand ? 

It was strange to see three thousand men, after 
one hearing of a new and untried religion, accept it 
as their faith, and publicly enrol themselves as its 
disciples. It was especially strange, since the men 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FLEE. 117 

at whose hands they, with docility, took the sacra¬ 
mental pledge of their conversion, were men with¬ 
out repute, whom they had themselves previously 
despised. But it is not till after some weeks have 
elapsed that the highest wonder of this phenomenon 
breaks upon us. 

Human nature is liable to unaccountable illusions, 
and multitudes to ungovernable impulses. It may 
be that in a week or two we shall find those thou¬ 
sands of a thousand different views, as to what they 
had heard from Peter on the day of Pentecost, 
and as to the pardon and grace which he had pro¬ 
fessed to declare to them. But, as day by day we 
watch that throng, moral marvels come continually 
into view. What was so rare in human nature is 
now ordinary, a holy man. Persons who were as 
common-place in character as can be conceived, now 
live before us, saints. The vile have become noble 
the churl self-denying, the bitter gentle, the sensua* 
wonderfully pure. A community drawn from Jews 
of the ordinary standard, from persons of every 
variety of character and of sinfulness, is a com¬ 
munity so pure, so far beyond what human eyes 
ever have seen before, that it seems as a commence¬ 
ment of heaven upon earth. Raised suddenly into 
gaintship, they steadily maintain their moral ele¬ 
vation \ first astonishing and captivating those 


18 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


who look on, and then withstanding all the oppo¬ 
sition which prejudice and power can bring to crush 
them. 

Day after day, month after month, year after 
year, this new and glorious life goes on. These 
men, lifted up from the ordinary level of sinners, 
continue “ steadfast in the Apostles’ fellowship, and 
in breaking of bread and prayers,” “ filled with the 
Holy Ghost,” rich in faith, overflowing with inward 
consolation; not seeing their glorified Redeemer 
with the eye, but more than seeing with the heart 
—feeling, embracing Him, they “rejoice with joy 
unspeakable and full of glory.” Their close pros¬ 
pect is immortality, their citizenship is in heaven, 
their wealth lies where change can never reduce it, 
nor moth corrupt, nor thief steal. Happy upon 
earth, and inheriters of heaven, it is naught to 
them that all mankind frown upon them; they 
know that they “ are of God, and the whole world 
lieth in wickedness.” Their saintliness spreads its 
fame to the ends of the earth—a fame that has 
never died until our day; and even upon our 
homes and our hearts are now descending the mild 
and holy influences of the first community called 
into existence by the tongue of fire. 

Three thousand men permanently raised from 
death in sin to a life of holiness! Three thousand 
sinners converted into saints ! Three thousand 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 119 

new-made saints enabled day by day to walk in the 
fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost! 
Three thousand of our brethren, weak, sinful by 
nature, open to the temptings of Satan even as we 
are, maintaining a life in the body which almost 
surpasses belief, so is it marked with goodness and 
with purity! 

This, of all the spectacles of Pentecost, is the one 
that speaks in deepest tones to the heart. On those 
three thousand we gaze; and our souls break out 
with adoration. Glory, honor, salvation !—for now 
the word “salvation” may be bQldly uttered by 
human lips—salvation is come, is come to the race 
of Adam! Here, we see it, not in word, not in 
promise, but in practical demonstration; in human 
beings redeemed; in our nature recovered from 
sin, and that not in a solitary convert, not in one 
ardent youth, or in one exhausted worldling, but in 
hundreds and thousands of men with ordinary 
hearts, and wants, and employments, to whom 
human life has become a fellowship with God, and a 
straight road to eternal joy. 

We have already said that we may speak of a 
physical miracle and of a mental miracle ; and to 
this we may add a moral miracle. Mind, we have 
said, is greater than matter, and therefore a work 
wrought in mind is greater than one wrought in 
matter; it bespeaks not merely a power, but a 


120 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


spirit. Just as intellect sways matter, so does that 
for which it is hard to find a name—the moral 
nature, the self and substance of a man, the heart 
—sway the intellect. We will use the word “heart,” 
not to signify the emotional nature, represented 
in Scripture by the “bowels,” but the moral na¬ 
ture ; that is, so far as man is concerned, nature. 
The heart commands the man. Give me a heart, 
and you give me a man; it carries both a mind and 
a body with it. Heart is the greatest thing below 
the sky; the nearest to the government above, that 
which sways intellect, and sways all things human. 
A work, then, wrought upon heart, is the highest 
order of operation to which human nature can 
afford a sphere. Christianity professes to be a 
system for that which has never been otherwise 
professed—the renewing of bad hearts in the image 
of the God of heaven. To this all its powers are 
directed; and until this is done, Christianity is but 
a theory. All previous to this is but as the verbal 
explanation of principles by a physical philosopher, 
lacking his ocular demonstration. The problem of 
our nature is how to make the bad good; that is, 
how to change nature, which, by natural power, is 
absolutely impossible. 

In the physical miracle we see the God of nature 
accrediting revelation; in the mental miracle we 
see the God of mind accrediting revelation. In 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 12] 

both these, nature is counter-worked, and a power 
above nature manifested. It is a grand and mem¬ 
orable thing to see the sea dried up, or to see the 
human mine illuminated with the lights of prophecy 
or the gift of tongues; but the highest manifesta¬ 
tion of a power above nature, of a power acting 
against and contrary to nature, is, when the bad 
suddenly becomes good; the impure, pure; when 
a clean thing is brought out of an unclean; when 
the earthly becomes heavenly; the sensual, spirit¬ 
ual; the devilish, like God; when the Ethiopian 
changes his skin, and the leopard his spots; when 
instead of the thorn comes up the fir-tree, and in¬ 
stead of the brier comes up the myrtle-tree. Here 
is the Ruler, not of the physical universe over¬ 
ruling physical nature, or of the mental universe 
over-ruling mental nature, but the Ruler of the 
moral universe over-ruling moral nature, in attesta 
tion of the Gospel of His own grace. 

This, though not in the technical language of 
theology a miracle, is so in common sense. Is it 
nature ? Is it reducible to natural law ? True, it is 
what is to be ordinarily expected in Christianity 
but expected as what ? as a fruit of natural agency ? 
or of supernatural power accompanying that agency, 
and attesting it as from God ? Has any system of 
religion ever embodied such a conception as an 
evidence that God was in it, and working through 


122 


THE TONGUE OP PIEE. 


it, which would admit of constant application, and, 
at the same time, would strike deeper into the 
human soul than any other imaginable demonstra¬ 
tion? This is the singular glory of the Gospel. 
The recovery of nature from her fearful fall, the 
creating anew of man in the image of God, the 
presenting the fir instead of the thorn, the myrtle 
instead of the brier, is the “ everlasting sign, 

WHICH SHALL NOT BE CUT OFF.” 

Other modes whereby the Lord attests and seals 
His messengers, whereby His operation accredits 
His word, have had their occasional and their glori¬ 
ous field; but this sign is equally adapted to all 
time, claims as its sphere all humanity, and ad¬ 
dresses not the judgment merely, but the con¬ 
science of man, proclaiming to him the presence in 
the earth of a Power that heals human nature, and 
restores the like of himself to the image of God. 

Each sinner transformed into a saint is a new 
token of a redeeming power among men. That 
token declares to observers, not that there is a 
King in heaven, not that there is a “Father of 
lights,” but that there is a Saviour. And this is the 
testimony which the world especially needs. There 
are few things in religion which men doubt more 
than whether it is possible for them, as individuals, 
to escape from their sins. Ho declaration of that pos¬ 
sibility goes so far to convince them, as seeing those 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 123 

whom they have known as weak as themselves, as 
addicted to evil as themselves, suddenly changed, 
and enabled all their life long to walk “ as seeing 
Him who is invisible.” This at once says to them, 
“There is One who has power on earth to save 
from sinand when they know that their neigh 
bor ascribes all to the cross of Christ, they feel 
that in that cross must lie an efficacy by which, if 
ever they are to find salvation, that salvation must 
come. 

The regeneration of a sinner is an evidence of 
power in the highest sphere—moral nature; with 
the highest prerogative—to change nature; and 
operating to the highest result—not to create 
originally, which is great; but to create anew, 
which is greater: for, when nature has once be¬ 
come evil, how infinite the glory of the act whereby 
again it takes its place in the eye of the universe, 
“very good!” The creation of saints out of sin¬ 
ners is the demonstration whereby the divinity of 
the Gospel is most shortly and most convincingly 
displayed. Of all the Christian evidences it alone 
proves that our religion does save from sin. 

Again we look back to those three thousand, and 
in the sight we glory. Our nature is not hopelessly 
lost! Redemption is wrought out! Humanity may 
be sanctified ! Communities of men may be reared 


124 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


who shall dwell in peace and love, and earth may 
become a mirror of heaven! Never, below the 
skies—never, until the tragic history of Adam’s 
sons is ended, can we escape the death which sin 
has brought upon us, and its correlative woes. But 
sin itself has found a conqueror; not sin in the ab¬ 
stract, not sin in some philosophical impersonation, 
not sin in the great prince of the powers of dark¬ 
ness ; but sin in human hearts, sin in my nature, sin 
girt round with flesh of my flesh, and bone of my 
bone, flowing in veins like mine, and appealed to 
by temptations of the mind and of the body, just 
such as my own. Sin in living man, has been con¬ 
quered, its Conqueror reigns, His redeeming power 
is nigh ; and in those converts at Jerusalem I see a 
pledge of my own deliverance, and can shout, “ I, 
too, shall be made free from the law of sin and 
death!” 

We see a pledge of the deliverance not only of 
individuals, but of multitudes, not only of families, 
but of thousands and tens of thousands. It has 
been too much the fashion for Christians to look 
upon pure and elevated religion as applicable only 
to a few. At a time when Christianity and holiness 
became different things, and true religion was look¬ 
ed upon as something not for life, but for a con¬ 
dition secluded from life, amounting, for practical 
purposes, to a burial before the time; a style of 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 125 

thinking crept in, which has never disappeared to 
this day. In the Church of Rome we still find it 
maintained, that deep holiness finds its best place 
away from human life, in retreat and celibacy. 
Among Protestants this error is rejected, yet prac¬ 
tical religion is looked upon as something not to be 
expected to gain thousands at a time, and to renew 
communities by its sacred power, but rather to be 
a select blessing for a few, scattered here and there, 
and everywhere little discerned. 

Look back to Pentecost. See Christianity at her 
first step raising up her army by thousands. She 
seeks not the wilderness; she seeks not the few; 
she affects not little, dispersed, and hidden groups. 
In the sight of Jerusalem, in the sight of the world, 
she starts as the religion of the multitude; the re¬ 
ligion of fathers and mothers, of traders, landown¬ 
ers, widows, persons of all classes and of all occu¬ 
pations. She takes in her hand, at the very first 
moment, an earnest of every nation, and kindred, 
and people, and tongue, of every grade and age, 
as if to expand forever the expectations of her dis¬ 
ciples, and impress us with the joyful faith that her 
practical redemption was for the multitudes of 
men. 


In the case of the converts of Pentecost we are 
struck first with the suddenness of their conviction, 


126 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


then with the sharpness of it, and then with the 
permanence of the result. 

When the humble fisherman began to preach, 
many who had witnessed the miracle were mock¬ 
ing ; none had become saints ; perhaps not a man 
in the crowd believed in the mediation of Christ, or 
in any other of the great doctrines of the Gospel. 
They were adverse—not to say dogged, and on 
system, enemies. His words were strangely edged: 
a sword went through the very souls of these men 
—a sword which told to the consciousness, that He 
who wielded it was the Unseen and the Almighty. 
As if the whole of life were recalled, as if eternity 
had pressed itself with all its weight into one mo¬ 
ment ; processes of thought that would have re¬ 
quired long, long meditation, and yet longer de¬ 
scription, flashed and reflashed across the soul; and 
the man found himself a sinner in the midst of his 
own sins, accused by the past, menaced by the fu¬ 
ture, overwhelmed, confounded, discovered, and 
unable to wrestle against the one thought, “ What 
must I do to be saved ?” 

The sharpness of this conviction is equally amaz¬ 
ing with its suddenness. Why could not the men 
control themselves ? Why not go to their homes 
and think? Why not take time to deliberate? 
Why not avoid exposure to the public eye ? Why, 
but because, wounded to the very quick, they for 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 127 

got all other considerations, and wanted to be heal¬ 
ed ? They saw, they felt themselves fallen into the 
hands of God; and, for the moment, the eye, the 
voice, the opinion of man was shut out from their 
thoughts. 

If a man really saw an angel, or one “ risen from 
the dead,” we should expect that all consideration 
of bystanders would forsake him in the awe of the 
moment. And so, if in an instant a supernatural 
power opens the unseen world to the soul, with its 
one eternal Light, its heaven and its hell, although 
the view of these must be imperfect and confused, 
yet if it is a view , a sudden view, it must shoot fear, 
wonder, awe, through and through the soul, till 
man and man’s opinion are as little thought of, as 
fashion by a woman fallen into a steamer’s foaming 
wake. 

We find those who were affected by these sudden 
impressions, going on and on, month after month, 
sustaining in the ordinary walks of life the profes¬ 
sion of saints, walking worthy, not only of them¬ 
selves, not only of their teachers, but even of the 
Lord , leading such a life that “ He that sanctifieth, 
and they which are sanctified, are all of one: for 
which cause He is not ashamed to call them breth¬ 
ren.” This stedfastness in purity and piety, “ in the 
Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking 
of bread, and in prayers,” in liberality such as no 


128 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


community had ever practiced, in “ gladness and 
singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor 
with all the peopleshows that the fountains of 
life had been sweetened, the depths of the soul 
reached; that, in a word, nature had been touched, 
changed, renewed. 

The permanence of the change shows that it is 
one of nature; its suddenness, that it is effected by 
supernatural means. Indeed, natural means can 
never change a nature, though they may greatly 
modify its manifestations. When we want to pro¬ 
duce any moral impression on human nature that 
shall be permanent, we trust to slow and lengthen¬ 
ed training. To turn a man from his ways, to turn 
him against his own interests, to lead him to place 
all he holds dear in continual jeopardy, purely for 
the sake of goodness here and happiness hereafter, 
is what, in any natural scheme, we must attempt by 
beginning early and by laboring long. But if we are 
to depend not on natural processes, but on the 
power of God, then time ceases to be a matter of 
account; the Infinite One declares His presence by 
accomplishing in a moment that upon which we had 
gladly spent a life. Whatever reasons may be ad 
vanced in favor of gradual awakenings rather than 
sudden ones, this at least stands on the other side, 
that the sudden conversion conveys to all bystand¬ 
ers a much more striking impression of a power 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIKE. 129 

above that of man. What is gradual may be read¬ 
ily ascribed, by the ignorant or the unbelieving, to 
the natural results of human processes. They may 
say, “ The wonder would be if, with so much teach¬ 
ing, so many homilies, directed to the one end of 
bringing man to consideration for his soul, he was not 
gradually brought to it.” But when, by some sin¬ 
gle, and, perhaps, simple message, the work of con¬ 
version is done in an instant, it looks like the raising 
of the dead. As to bystanding sinners, it first stirs 
their wonder, then moves their conscience; and if 
they see such cases multiplied, the feeling falls upon 
them—“ It is the mighty power of God !” 

Christianity was established by the creation of 
Christians. 

In the words, “ Continued steadfast in the Apos¬ 
tles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of 
bread, and in prayers,” we see the effect of the re¬ 
generation of individuals on the character of a com¬ 
munity. From a number of good men at once 
arose a united and fraternal society. Statesmen 
and philanthropists, occupied with the idea of form¬ 
ing happy nations, frequently look to good institu¬ 
tions as the means of doing so ; but find that when 
institutions are more than a certain distance in ad¬ 
vance of the people, instead of being a blessing, 
they become a snare and a confusion. The reason 
9 


130 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


of this is obvious: good institutions to a certain ex¬ 
tent pre-suppose a good people. Where the degree 
of goodness existing in the people does not, in some 
measure, correspond with that pre-supposed in the 
institutions, the latter can never be sustained. As 
the organ, embodiment, and conservators of indivi¬ 
dual goodness, the value of good institutions is in¬ 
calculable ; and he is one of man’s greatest benefac¬ 
tors, who makes any improvement in the joinings 
and bearings of the social machine ; but as a means 
of regeneration, political instruments are impotent. 
Good institutions given to a depraved and unprin¬ 
cipled people, end in bringing that which is good 
into disrepute. In fact, it would be more correct 
to say, that institutions which are good for a people 
of good principles, are bad for a people destitute of 
principle. The only way to the effectual regenera¬ 
tion of society is the regeneration of individuals; 
make the tree good, and the fruit will be good; 
make good men, and you will easily found and sus¬ 
tain good institutions. Here is the fault of states¬ 
men—they forget the heart of the individual. 

On the other hand, have not those who see and 
feel the importance of first seeking the regeneration 
of individuals, too often insufficiently studied the 
application of Christianity to social evils ? When 
the result of Christian teaching long addressed to a 
people has raised the tone of conscience, when a 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 131 


large number of persons embodying true Chris, 
tianity in their own lives are diffused among all 
ranks, a foundation is laid for social advancement; 
but it does not follow that, by spontaneous develop 
ment, the principles implanted in the minds of the 
people make to themselves the most fitting and 
Christian embodiment. Fearful social evils may 
co-exist with a state of society wherein many are 
holy, and all have a large amount of Christian light. 
The most disgusting slave-system, base usages 
fostering intemperance, alienation of class from 
class in feeling and interest, systematic frauds in 
commerce, neglect of workmen by masters, neglect 
of children by their own parents, whole classes 
living by sin, usages checking marriage and encour¬ 
aging licentiousness, human dw T ellings which make 
the idea of home odious, and the existence of mod¬ 
esty impossible, are but specimens of the evils which 
may be left age after age, cursing a people among 
whom Christianity is the recognized standard of so 
ciety, To be indifferent to these things is as un¬ 
faithful to Christian morals on the one hand, as 
hoping to remedy them without spreading practical 
holiness among individuals, is astray from truth on 
the other. 

The most dangerous perversion of the Gospel, 
viewed as affecting individuals, is, when it is looked 
upon as a salvation for the soul after it leaves the 


132 


THE TONGUE OF FIKE. 


body, but no salvation from sin while here. The 
most dangerous perversion of it, viewed as affect¬ 
ing the community, is, when it is looked upon as a 
means of forming a holy community in the world to 
come, but never in this. Nothing short of the gen¬ 
eral renewal of society ought to satisfy any soldier 
of Christ; and all who aim at that triumph should 
draw much inspiration from the King’s own words: 
“All power is given unto Me in heaven and in 
earth.” Much as Satan glories in his power over 
an individual, how much greater must be his glory¬ 
ing over a nation embodying, in its laws and usages, 
iisobedience to God, wrong to man, and contamina¬ 
tion to morals! To destroy all national holds of evil, 
to root sin out of institutions, to hold up to view 
the Gospel ideal of a righteous nation, to confront 
all unwholesome public usages with mild, genial, 
and ardent advocacy of what is purer, is one of the 
first duties of those whose position or mode of 
thought gives them an influence on general ques¬ 
tions. In so doing they are at once glorifying the 
Redeemer—by displaying the benignity of His in¬ 
fluence over human society—and removing hinder- 
ances to individual conversion, some of which act 
by direct incentive to vice, others by upholding a 
state of things the acknowledged basis of which 
is, “ Forget God.” 

Satan might be content to let Christianity turn 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 133 

over the sub-soil, if he is in perpetuity to sow the 
surface with thorns and briers; but the Gospel is 
come to renew the face of the earth. Among the 
wheat, the tares, barely distinguishable from it, may 
be permitted to grow to the last: but the field is 
to be wheat, not tares; wheat, not briers; a fair, 
fenced, plowed, sowed, and fruitful field, albeit 
weeds, resembling the crop, be interspersed. 

The same words, “The Apostles’ doctrine and 
fellowship, and breaking of bread, and prayers,” in¬ 
dicate the various exercises of religion, in which all 
Churches and individual Christians ought to “ con¬ 
tinue stedfast.” It was not a “ preaching Church,” 
or a “praying Church,” the one in opposition to the 
other: they had both “doctrine,” teaching, and 
“prayers.” The idea of separating these two, or 
of setting the one up above the other, is foreign to 
the religion of the New Testament. They are no 
ministers sent of God who have not the gift of 
being “apt to teach.” They may be good and 
useful men; but the proof that any one never was 
designed by the Head of all for a certain position, 
is, that He never qualified him for it. All the au¬ 
thorities in the universe can not make him an em¬ 
bassador for Christ, to whom Christ Himself has 
given no power to beseech men to be reconciled to 
God, no power to warn every man, and teach every 


134 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


man, that he may present every man perfect. The 
pretense of a Christianity without ministers, served 
by a priesthood who can manipulate, read prayers 
that others wrote, organize solemnities, and keep 
times and seasons, but who can not “ rightly divide 
the word of truthcan not “ preach the Gospel 
with demonstration of the Spirit, and with power;” 
can not do any thing but what the most senseless, 
or the most wicked, of men could do, if drilled to 
it; is one of those marvels of imposition before 
which we are at once abashed and indignant—in¬ 
dignant that, with the New Testament still living, 
men dare palm this upon us for Christianity; and 
abashed, that human nature is ready to accept such 
a travesty. 

On the other hand, the gift of teaching was not 
exercised to the exclusion, or even to the repres¬ 
sion, of that of prayer. The disciples did not 
come together only when some one was prepared 
with a deep and weighty discourse on points of 
essential doctrine. Prayer was one of their habit¬ 
ual exercises; not merely hearkening to the soli¬ 
tary prayer of one gifted preacher, in the great 
congregation, before or after his sermon ; but pray¬ 
ers in frequent and familiar fellowship, prayers 
prompted then and there, without book, and with¬ 
out study; prayers of private disciples who had 
no higher gift, but who could pour out their re 


.EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 135 

quests to God; prayers by men with provincial 
speech, and all the marks of being “ unlearned 
and ignorantbut also with clear signs that 
the Spirit was helping their infirmities, and teach¬ 
ing them what they should pray for as they 
ought. 

Suppose that Peter had some day stood up, and 
said, “ Brethren, all things must be done in order. 
The use of vulgar tones and uneducated language 
is unseemly. Henceforth none shall pray in our 
assemblies but those who can do so without expos¬ 
ing us to the ridicule of the respectable. Indeed, 
to secure propriety, we have prepared proper 
forms, and all our future praying shall be from 
these Litanies and Collects written here, the lan¬ 
guage of which is the most beautiful of human 
compositions, and may, indeed, be called fault¬ 
less.” 

Would not this have altered the history of the 
primitive Church? Were not prayers, simple, un¬ 
premeditated, united; prayers of the well-taught 
Apostle ; prayers of the accomplished scholar ; 
prayers of the rough but fervent peasant; prayers 
of the new but zealous convert; prayers which im¬ 
portuned and wrestled with an instant and irrepress¬ 
ible urgency;—were they not an essential part of 
that religion, which holy fire had kindled, and which 
daily supplications alone could fan ? 


136 


THE TONGUE OF FLEE. 


Surely no Church can be entitled to call herself 
a praying Church because, by a trained priesthood, 
she often reads old and admirable forms of prayer. 
Against such forms, suitably mingled with the pub¬ 
lic services of the Church, we mean to say no word 
we u£e, admire, and enjoy them: but, with the 
Acts of the Apostles open, it is impossible to re¬ 
press astonishment, that any man should imagine 
that frequent and formal, reading of the best forms 
ever written, unmixed even by one outburst of 
spontaneous supplication from Minister or people, 
has any pretense to be looked on as the interceding 
grace, the gift of supplication bestowed upon the 
primitive Church. That in such modes holy and 
prayerful hearts may and do pour themselves out to 
God, we not only concede, but would maintain 
against all who questioned it. That such prayers 
are in many ways preferable to the one set prayer 
of one dry man, long, stiff, and meager, wherewith 
congregations are often visited, is too plain to need 
acknowledgment. 

But gifts of prayer are part of the work and 
prerogative of the Holy Ghost; are of the very 
essence of a Church; and to deliberately shut the 
door against them, or so to frame ecclesiastical ar¬ 
rangements that they are practically buried except 
when possessed by the Minister, the well-educated, 
or the influential, is a plain departure from apostolio 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIKE. 137 

Christianity. In no form is the tongue of fire more 
impressive, more calculated to convince men that a 
power above nature is working, than when poor 
men, who could no more preach than they could 
fly, and could not suitably frame a paragraph on 
any secular topic, lift up a reverent voice, amid a 
few fellow-Christians, and in strains of earnest trust, 
perhaps of glorious emotion, and even of sublime 
conception as to things Divine, plead in prayer with 
their Redeemer. The Pentecostal Christianity was 
not framed on the ideal of an accomplished circle ; 
but on that of a Church, a Church including learned 
and unlearned, the refined and the rustic, the 
honored Evangelist, Prophet, or Apostle, and the 
humble member without public gifts; but all re¬ 
joicing as members of one brotherhood, and each, 
in fitting time and mode, taking his share accord¬ 
ing to his gifts in the active work of mutual edifi¬ 
cation. A Church, to be apostolic, must have 
Ministers powerful in preaching, and members 
mighty in prayer. 

They continued stedfast “ in breaking of bread 
hence it is plain, that it was not a purely spiritual 
system of worship, too spiritual to stoop to our 
Lord’s ordained symbols, or by the breaking of 
bread to show forth His death. 

Besides breaking of bread, and doctrine, and 


138 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


prayers, “ fellowship” is distinctly named. It was 
then not a Church where the “teaching” of the 
Minister was taken for his fellowship with the 
people, and their “breaking of bread” for their 
fellowship one with another; but where, in addi¬ 
tion !o public teaching, sacraments, and prayers, 
was another beauty of primitive Christianity, “ fel¬ 
lowship.” Fellowship is family-life, forming a circle, 
smaller or larger, to the members of which joys, 
sorrows, interests, and undertakings are of common 
concern and matter of common conversation. Be¬ 
tween the life of man as an individual, and as a 
member of a great community, lies a vast region of 
affections, which can be filled up only by family re¬ 
lations. In public, an individual does not indulge 
his affections: the greater the multitude, the more 
is the heart in privacy. The citizen who stands 
honorably with the public, and yet has no wife, 
child, or friend, to partake of his life, is lonely: his 
place in the town council, or the national legislature, 
may be filled, and all the relations therein involved 
well sustained to him by others; but he lives with¬ 
out fellowship: if from bereavement, men compas¬ 
sionate him; if from choice, they turn cold at the 
thought of him. 

It would have been strange, had a Church meant 
for man, in all his aspects, individual, domestic, 
national, left the space between the individual and 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 139 

the public unoccupied; so that , Christian life must 
have been divided into secret and solitary inter¬ 
course with God, and public solemnities, wherein 
each was a stranger to each; no family life, no 
circles of interwoven hearts, no unbosoming of joys, 
sorrows, and cares, no communication “ one to an¬ 
other” as to the soul’s health or progress. • Had 
such a cardinal omission been traceable in Chris¬ 
tianity, it might have raised many a question as to 
how the tenderest elements of our nature—the 
social ones—had been disregarded in forming a 
bond designed to unite all men in one loving bro¬ 
therhood. 

But the spiritual life of the primitive Church is 
redolent of family feeling. You have not there the 
solemn and solitary man, who has things passing 
between himself and his Creator, of which he never 
breathes a word, though he will take his place in 
public assemblies, where his own heart is as effect¬ 
ually concealed as if he were in a desert; who re¬ 
gards any approach toward fellowship of spirit as 
an inroad on privacy; any inquiry for his soul’s 
health as a stranger’s intermeddling; any opening 
of hearts as weakness; who can live his religious 
life alone, and loves to do so, except when he comes 
into public; who wants no friends, fellow-helpers, 
or inner circle of companions; and, indeed, who 
loftily doubts whether sociality in religious life is a 


140 


THE TONGUE OF FIBE. 


very good thing. That man who can find fellow- 
citizens among the children of God, hut not family 
friends, may be a very good Christian, but not of 
the primitive stamp. 

What a glow of family heartiness runs through 
the New Testament! Instead of stiff souls always 
either dressed for the public eye, or shut up in 
solitude ; you have brothers, sisters, friends, lovers, 
who cling to each other by mutual attraction, and 
between whom the common talk often runs on them 
conversion, their conflicts, and their glorious fore¬ 
taste of eternal joy. In writing to them, the 
Apostles are manifestly addressing persons to whom 
one great event has occurred, the surpassing inter¬ 
est of which keeps it in continual remembrance. 
Once they were foolish, dark, wicked; carried away 
by evil passions, without God, and without hope. 
But a wonderful change has passed upon them—a 
deliverance from the power of darkness, and a 
translation into the kingdom of God’s dear Son ; a 
change as if from being aliens to be of the house¬ 
hold of God; as from darkness to light, as from life 
to death. To this great salvation, accomplished for 
and in them, the allusions made by their apostolic 
teachers are so free, incidental, and frequent, as 
clearly to show that it was a theme of unreserved 
and joyful thanksgiving and wonder in their com¬ 
munications with one another. The dignity of the 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIKE. 141 

apostolic office does not prevent frank and touch¬ 
ing allusions to personal conversion and to pre¬ 
vious character, as also to present attainments; 
and, on the other hand, even the babe in Christ 
is one whose happy experience is matter of open 
congratulation-: “I write unto you, little children, 
because your sins are forgiven you, for His name’s 
sake.” 

The incidental proofs of the spirit which animated 
the first Christians, as to fellowship with one an¬ 
other, would be perfectly conclusive if they stood 
alone; but some important passages of the apostolic 
letters are plainly meant to preserve this spirit for¬ 
ever in the Church. “ Let the word of Christ dwell 
in you richly in all wisdom; teaohing and admonish¬ 
ing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual 
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the 
Lord.”* Here is an injunction, not to the Ministry, 
but to ordinary Christians, to be well acquainted 
with the word of God, with a view to the edifica¬ 
tion of one another, by teaching and admonition ; 
but teaching and admonition which, so far from 
having the regularity of preaching, may even be, 
and ought frequently to be, in “ psalms, and hymns, 
and spiritual songs.” Such counsel could never be 
given, had a system been adopted wherein every 
word of teaching or admonition must fall from the 
* CoL iii. 16 . 


142 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


lips of the Minister. Throughout the New Testa¬ 
ment the system of the Church is assumed to be 
such as to call forth the gift of every member, no 
matter of what order it might be; and the active 
co-operation of each one is enjoined to promote the 
edification of all. “ From whom [Christ] the whole 
body fitly joined together and compacted by that 
which every joint supplieth, according to the effect¬ 
ual working in the measure of every part, maketh 
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in 
love.”* Here “ every joint” is to supply somewhat, 
“ every part” to perform its “ effectual working 
and by this means the body is to increase, “ edify¬ 
ing itself 5 ’ in love. No system can be made to ac¬ 
cord with this passage, any more than with the 
general spirit of the New Testament, wherein the 
pulpit is the sole provision for instruction, admoni¬ 
tion, and exhortation ; the great bulk of the mem¬ 
bers of the Church being merely recipients, each 
living a stranger to the spiritual concerns of the 
others, and no “ effectual working” of every joint 
and every part for mutual strengthening being 
looked for. It is not enough that arrangements to 
promote mutual edification be permitted, at the 
discretion of individual Pastors or officers: means 
of grace, wherein fellow-Christians shall on set pur¬ 
pose have “ fellowship” one with another, “ speak 
* Epli. iv. 16. 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 143 

often one to another, exhort one another, confess 
their faults one to another,” and “ pray one for an¬ 
other,” shall teach and “ admonish one another in 
psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs,” are not 
dispensable appendages, but of the essence of a 
Church of Christ. 

Some make light of any “ teaching” which could 
be gained by the mutual exercise of the gifts of 
private members of the Church—not always either 
educated or wise—and think that only well-prepared 
addresses from the pulpit are instructive. The reg¬ 
ular ministry of the word is undoubtedly the prime 
source of teaching, and on its vigor and clearness 
the life of all auxiliary agency will ever depend; 
but those who would reject the practical and home 
teaching of free-hearted “ fellowship,” little consider 
that to persons of simple mind, or slow heart—that 
is, to the majority of mankind—the great problems, 
“ What must I do to be saved ? What is believing ? 
Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit glory ? 
Am I, or am I not, deceiving myself? How can I 
overcome this temptation, the sorest that ever beset 
a man ? How can I grow in grace ?” and such like, 
have often more light shed upon them by the plain 
statement of an individual as to how Divine mercy 
solved them in his own case than by any general 
explanation. In practical religion, as in all things 
practical, instruction is miserably incomplete, even 


144 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


though correct so far as it goes, if it does not bring 
before the student or inquirer actual examples of 
the process he hears described. A minister sur¬ 
rounded by bands of lively piembers, who with glad 
and single heart say as the Psalmist, “ Come and 
hear, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what 
He hath done for my soul,” has at hand “ living 
epistles” which he may send any inquirer to read, 
has practical demonstrations of his pulpit doctrines, 
by which he may at once convince and enlighten 
the doubter. One who seeks no such auxiliaries, 
who permits or encourages the frigid habit of walk¬ 
ing each one with a sealed bosom, rests all his hopes 
of success on the words of his own lips, and that 
without scriptural sanction. 

Some defend a plain departure from scriptural 
religion by openly questioning the utility of Chris¬ 
tian fellowship. One writer of note is so bold as 
to say that the spiritual experience of believers is 
“ better never spoken about.” Though this senti¬ 
ment is completely alien to the spirit of both Old 
and Hew Testament piety, it is the natural fruit of 
the constitution of too many of our Protestant 
Churches. In them the social element of religion 
has been woefully overlooked. Provision is made 
for doctrine, for prayers, for breaking of bread ; but 
none for fellowship. A Christian may be a member 
of a Church, and yet walk all his way alone, no one 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 145 

knowing or caring to know of his conflicts or his 
joys. If he is tempted, he may stand; if over¬ 
come, he may get restored; if happy, he may hide 
his peace among his secrets, and ask no one to re¬ 
joice with him; if he had lost his pearl, and has 
found it again, he may be silent, for his neighbors 
are not wont to be called together to take share in 
another’s cares and joys. There is something fear¬ 
fully chilling in a state of things of which this is too 
fair a description. Religion is a life to be lived in 
fellowship; a conflict to be sustained, not singly, 
but in bands; a redemption, of which w T e are to 
impart the joy; a hope, an anticipation, of which 
the comforts are to be gladly told to those who 
<c fear the Lord.” We once heard a contrite inquirer 
after spiritual comfort say, “ It is ten years since I 
was received a member of such a Church, and 
during all that time no one has ever said a word to 
me about my soul.” And this is the case with tens 
of thousands who are members of Churches which 
provide only for public instruction and ordinances, 
not for the social fellowship of saints. It is a 
mournful example of the effect of overlooking any 
one of the essential features of vital Christianity; 
and a fair comment on the ungenial notion that 
religious experience had better never be spoken 
about. 

How would the Psalms be altered, could we re- 
10 


.46 


THE TONGUE OP PIKE. 


construct them on the principle that all about the 
state of the soul, its joys, sorrows, temptations, 
wanderings, and deliverances, had better be kept 
in prudent reserve from the knowledge of our 
brethren! How would the apostolic letters lose in 
dignity, tenderness, and power, as well as in instruc¬ 
tion, could this frigid law of isolation once stiffen 
them! 

If we turn from Religion in her own person, as 
viewed in holy writ, to look at a reflection of her in 
one of the best mirrors, the “ Pilgrim’s Progress,” 
how would Bunyan have handled pilgrims who 
would stiffly or prudently close up their bosom? A 
Christian, a Faithful, a Hopeful, who had nothing to 
say “ one to another,” as they traveled on, respect¬ 
ing the beginning of God’s work in their heart, 
their escapes, solaces, temptations, and slips; a 
Christiana, a Mercy, a Great-Heart, an Honest, a 
Ready-to-Halt, who would interchange no experi¬ 
ence ; holy damsels and genial Gaiuses who would 
have no questions to ask on such matters—would 
be a set of people whom Bunyan would not know 
and whom, we suspect, he would castigate with 
good will. Indeed, he has given such some cutting 
stripes, as it is, in the person of Mr. Talkative, 
who, though fluent on doctrines and such points, 
was very reserved on experimental religion. 'Faith- 
ful, wishing to know how he was to bring him to a 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 147 

point, said to Christian, “What would you have 
me to do ?” 

“ Why, go to him, and enter into some serious 
discourse on the power of religion; and ask him 
plainly, when he has approved of it (for that he 
will), whether this thing be set up in his heart, 
house, or conversation ?” 

Faithful having described how a work of grace 
“ discovers itself when it is in the heart of a man,” 
puts the plain question, “Do you experience this 
first part of the description of it ?” 

Talkative at first began to blush, but, recovering 
himself, thus replied: “You come now to experi¬ 
ence, to conscience, and God ; and to appeal to Him 
for justification of what is spoken. This kind of 
discourse I did not expect; nor am I disposed to 
give an answer to such questions: because I count 
not myself bound thereto, unless you take upon you 
to be a catechizer; and though you should do so, 
yet I may refuse to make you my judge.” How 
many professedly religious men, who think them¬ 
selves very different people from Mr. Talkative, and 
in many respects are so, would, nevertheless, feel 
much as he did, if any Faithful came as abruptly 
close home on the question of personal experi¬ 
ence ! 

Banish from the “ Pilgrim’s Progress” the social 
element, the fellowship of hearts, the free recital of 


148 


THE TONGUE OF EIRE. 


the Lord’s dealings with each pilgrim, and you 
would cool its interest down to a point which, 
doubtless, would be decorous in the eyes of some, 
but would never touch the many. 

“ But is not what you call ‘ fellowship,’ the meet’ 
ing of the lay members of the Church for prayer, 
praise, and recital of experience, liable to be abused?” 
Most certainly; and that in several ways. But 
is not preaching the Gospel liable to be abused, 
so as to be merely the means of displaying a man’s 
talent, or of diffusing error ? And baptism, so as 
to be put instead of the “renewing of the Holy 
Ghost ?” And the Lord’s Supper, so as to be put 
instead of holy living ? When we want to learn 
what is Christian, we never ask what is incapable 
of being abused; for we should find no answer : but 
what accords with the Word of God? 

And it does accord with the Word of God, spirit 
and letter, that “ they who fear the Lord” should 
“ speak often one to another that the forgiven 
and happy sinner should have companions around 
him, before whom he may celebrate the mercies of 
his Redeemer ; that the weak should not droop un¬ 
known, nor those whose love is waxing cold be left 
to grow cold unwarned. A church wherein, from 
the minister in the pulpit down, every man in his 
own order, “ according to the grace that is given 
to” him, is called to exercise his gift, and every 


EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 149 

member to lend'his “ effectual working” toward the 
general life and strength; wherein hearts are open, 
and fellowship is free; can alone answer to the 
New Testament ideal of a Church. How much of 
the failure of the various Protestant Churches to 
maintain religion at a high point of vitality for any 
great length of time consecutively, or to diffuse it 
generally among the nations which have come 
under their spiritual care, is to be ascribed to their 
neglect of the social element of scriptural piety, we 
do not profess to determine. But let those Churches 
who, as to this point, have been taught to seek after 
primitive spirit and usage, faithfully and immov¬ 
ably guard the inestimable treasure which has been 
committed to them. 


CHAPTER V. 


PERMANENT BENEFITS RESULTING TO THE CHURCH. 

Among the permanent benefits resulting from 
Pentecost, we can not include the visible flame. Of 
it we never again find any mention in the course of 
the apostolical history; it appears to stand related 
to the Christian dispensation as the fires of Sinai did 
to the Mosaic—the solemn token of supernatural 
power upon its inaugural day. 

Neither are we warranted in looking upon the 
“gift of tongues” as one of the permanent privi¬ 
leges of the Church. Only twice, throughout the 
Acts of the Apostles, do we find any record that it 
accompanied the first introduction of Christianity to 
a place; and both these instances are very peculiar. 
The first was in the house of Cornelius, when Peter, 
preaching to his Italian auditory, felt some misgiv¬ 
ing whether he might not by possibility be doing 
wrong, should he include them within the fold of 
the Church; but he saw a great change pass upon 
the men before him, and heard them begin to speak 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 151 

with other tongues, and thus saw that, as to them¬ 
selves at the first, the Lord had now given a Pente¬ 
cost to the Gentiles. The other case is that wherein 
the disciples at Ephesus, who had been instructed 
in the baptism of John, but had not so much as 
“ heard whether there was any Holy Ghost , 55 receiv¬ 
ed the word at the hands of Paul, and began to speak 
with other tongues. These two cases excepted, we 
never read of this miraculous gift immediately at¬ 
tending conversions effected under the preaching of 
the Apostles. It would not be just, from this cir¬ 
cumstance, to infer that these were the only cases 
in which the gift was bestowed; but we may at 
least infer, that it was not an invariable accompani¬ 
ment of the first appearance of Christianity, even in 
the apostolic days. 

Considerable question, as to whether it was de¬ 
signed to be a permanent, gift of the Church, is 
raised by St. Peter’s discourse on this particular 
gift, in his letter to the Corinthians. It has been 
already remarked, that he there shows it to be des¬ 
titute of any power of edification for the Church, 
and therefore not to be a gift likely to continue, 
where all were convinced of the truth of Christian* 
ity. “ Tongues are for a sign, not to them that be¬ 
lieve, but to them that believe not.” The only 
specific use assigned to the miracle is, that it is a 
sign to them who believe not. In any community, 


152 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


then, in which the whole population had become 
believers, this sign ceased to be called for. 

It seems to be frequently taken for granted, that 
the chief value of the gift of tongues was to enable 
the possessors of it to preach the Gospel to the na¬ 
tives of countries, whose language they did not 
otherwise understand. But this is never set for¬ 
ward, in the Acts of the Apostles, as a reason for 
the gift. A solitary stranger, possessing the gift of 
tongues, and passing into a country, the language 
of which was to him otherwise unknown, would 
have a great advantage in that gift; but, as has 
been already noted, not the advantage of there¬ 
by impressing the people of the country with a 
sense of the miracle—for they would probably be¬ 
lieve that he had been taught their tongue—but of 
ability at once to proceed with his work and mis¬ 
sion. It is, however, to be remarked that we never 
find this advantage quoted as one of the results of 
the gift. Except in the case wherein the gift of 
tongues was used as a sign to the disciples, that the 
Gentiles were admitted into the dispensation and 
community of the Spirit; the gift was no sign “ to 
those who believe.” Its one use was “ a sign” to 
unbelievers, and even to them not in ordinary cir¬ 
cumstances; for then prophecy, and not tongues 
was the profitable gift. Not adapted to edify the 
Church, or to bring ignorant unbelievers to repent- 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 153 

ance, and fitted only to be a sign under exception 
able circumstances, this gift does not seem clearly 
designed to be either universal or perpetual. 

We are not called upon to say that it will never 
be restored to the Church; for that is never said in 
the word of God; nor should we ridicule or talk 
disrespectfully of the faith of any Christian who 
devoutly expects its restoration. All we say is, 
that we have not scriptural ground to claim it as 
one of the permanent gifts of the Spirit; and we 
may add that, if it ever return to the Church, it 
will be, not a mystification, but a miracle, a real 
speaking with “ other tongues,” not a speaking in 
some unheard-of, unknown tongue. 

Having premised thus far, we come to the seri¬ 
ous question, whether the Christian Church derives 
any advantage whatever from the dispensation of 
the Spirit, beyond that of looking back to a glori¬ 
ous period of miracle and power at her origin—a 
period which she may not regard as the dawn of a 
long and brightening day, but as a wonderful time 
of mysteries and portents, which were to have no 
permanent place in the Church. It may seem 
strange thus plainly to put the question, whether 
Christianity really has any benefits permanently re¬ 
sulting from Pentecost; but it is necessary to do so, 
in order honestly to meet, not so much well-digest- 


154 


THE TONGUE OE FIKE. 


ed and formally expressed opinions, as a habit of 
feeling, often prevailing among professed branches 
and members of the Christian Church. 

Nothing is more common than to find the whole 
system of* Christianity, as an organization for re¬ 
covering mankind from their sinful condition, 
spoken of, treated, and trusted in, as if it had 
been clearly ascertained that it was neither more 
nor less than a deposit of Divine doctrine cast upon 
the earth, forsaken by the Divine Power, and left 
to make such way among men as it might by the 
inherent force of truth, and the permission of aus¬ 
picious circumstances. Cases are stated in which 
it is taken for granted that Christianity can make 
no way, simply because natural difficulties exist, 
such as natural agency can not in reason be ex¬ 
pected to overcome. Any thing like a consistent 
counting upon a superior power acting with the 
truth, and making it triumph over difficulties, such 
as on natural grounds are unconquerable, is jauntily 
dealt with, as pertaining to those whose religion is 
not entitled to the veneration which Christianity 
has, by the lapse of ages, gained from mankind. 

In every thing practice is in danger, if theory be 
falsified; and after the right theory has been aban¬ 
doned, the maintenance of right practice is always 
precarious, and never long continued. If it be the 
true theory of Christianity, that the living power 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 155 

of the Holy Ghost, additional to pastoral agency, 
additional to Scriptural truth, additional to every 
doctrine and every ordinance—a power by which 
the truth is applied and the agent quickened for his 
work, is not to be expected as continually resident 
and active in the Church ; that theory ought to he 
clearly stated and formally recognized on the part 
of all Christians. If it be not the true theory, we 
should take care that it do not color any of our 
habits of thought. 

A religion without the Holy Ghost , though it had 
all the ordinances and all the doctrines of the New 
Testament , would certainly not be Christianity. 
In it the presence and power of the Spirit are ever 
taken to be the vital element. Our world without 
its atmosphere, though the same globe, with the 
same physical characteristics, would be another 
world; and, if inhabited at all, must be inhabited 
by a race governed by laws altogether dissimilar to 
those under which human life is sustained. The 
change from the Church of the Hew Testament to 
a Church without the Holy Ghost, would certainly 
not be less in its kind than this. 

All who seriously handle Christianity must rec¬ 
ognize the presence of the Spirit, as an integral 
part of its system and power; but if this presence 
is to be in some occult and inconceivable manner 
resident in an abstract Church; not in the hearts 


156 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


of individual believers, not in the living temple of 
animated bodies and sanctified souls, but in a holy 
Church made up of unholy members, in a sacred 
Ministry made up of secular persons, in holy houses 
where worldly multitudes gather, and in holy books 
which ungodly ecclesiastics handle; if this is to be 
the presence of the Spirit, then the debate as to 
whether it is to be expected in perpetuity or not, 
need excite little interest. 

If His presence is to entitle men to promulgate 
new doctrines contradictory to those already re¬ 
vealed in His own word, and even to withhold that 
word from the mass of their fellow-men, on the plea 
of denying them a deceptive guide and substitut¬ 
ing an infallible one, then would His presence be¬ 
come a self-contradiction and a danger. In none 
of these lights have we the slightest reason given 
in the word of God to expect the presence of the 
Spirit. We hear not of Him there as dwelling else¬ 
where than in the bodies of believers, or ever yield¬ 
ing to future ages the right to depart from the ancient 
ways and the clear revelation of the Son of God. 

Neither do we find the promise of His presence 
so given that all action and effort on the part of 
Christians is to be made at every moment dependent 
on each person’s own impression of the Spirit’s 
movement within him. 

But while on the one hand, we do not expect the 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 157 

permanent presence of the Spirit with the Church 
in the Romish sense, or in the sense maintained by 
estimable Christians of the Society of Friends, we 
must, on the other hand, maintain, as we have said, 
that without His presence and operation in the 
hearts of believers, and in Christian agents, we can 
not have the Christian religion. We do not expect 
visible signs or miraculous gifts: for these were 
not the substantial blessing and grace imparted at 
Pentecost; but were to them only as heralds and 
ushers. The real grace and blessing lay in what we 
have called the spiritual influence of the Holy Ghost, 
acting on the believer’s heart; His ministerial influ¬ 
ence, acting on the Church; His converting influ¬ 
ence, acting on the world. These, we contend, are 
necessary to the identity of the Christian religion, 
and were bestowed for all ages, and will to the end 
of the world be shed on those who perseveringly 
“ wait” for the baptism of fire. 

Whence arises a persuasion which we seldom find 
formally stated, but constantly trace in the words 
of thoughtful men—that our mind is cut off from 
communion with the Father Mind, and, though able 
to draw knowledge from physical objects and from 
the minds of men, is without any access to the 
Source of spirit, or any recognizable lights from 
Him ? On what inch of ground in all the realm of 


158 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


reason can we rest the notion, that the Spirit of 
God does not communicate actively and directly 
with the spirit of man ? Is it that we are so com¬ 
pletely outcasts that, though without doubt capable 
of being acted upon by the Divine Being for Divine 
intents, He will not touch subjects so mean ? This 
would be the death-knell of intellect and morals; 
for, if thus cut off from the Source of light, our 
souls must be lost in the dark at last. The sense 
of sin gives to the conscience a feeling of banish¬ 
ment ; the only answer to which lies in redemption. 
It is vain to answer it by mere reason ; for reason 
offers no footing for the feeling, except on ground 
which revelation first discovers, and then bridges 
over by the Cross. 

Is it that our mental perceptions are all derived 
through physical organs, and that, none such exist¬ 
ing as channels between God and the soul, no com¬ 
munication can take place ? Few would be so bold 
as to say this; many are bold enough to assume it. 
What! no communication but through physical 
organs ? They never explain communication, but 
only increase the mystery. Physical organs, it is 
true, are only acted upon from loithout , by physical 
objects; and all our sensations come through such 
organs. But they never have sensations. The 
organ receives an impulse from the light, the air, or 
other outward object, and transmits that impulse to 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 159 

the brain, producing a vibration there ; but what a 
gulf between a vibration in a brain and a sensation 
of a soul, or an idea of heaven, or an emotion of 

joy! 

It seems no mystery that two men should be able 
to communicate, but a great one that they should 
be able to do so through an iron wire, when they 
are a thousand miles apart. One makes a secret 
fire carry a thought from his mind through a wire 
toward the mind of the other; a sensation is given, 
and both an idea and an emotion follow; but the 
wire feels none of them. The impulse passes along 
it ; and the mind interprets that impulse, and 
turns it into the image of a dying father, a new¬ 
born babe, a ruined fortune, or a Sovereign saying, 
“Well done I” All the sensation, perception, emo¬ 
tion, lie within the mind, none of them in the wire. 
It is just so with organs; they transmit impulses, 
but they know nothing, feel nothing, and explain 
nothing. The power of communication is a mental 
powder. Spirit knows, and gives knowledge. The 
wonder is not that a mind can impart its ideas to a 
mind such as itself, but that, being shut up in a 
silent chamber whence branch out wires incapable 
of one thought or feeling, it can pour along these a 
vivid and changeful fire which conveys its feelings 
to another. 

“2sTo man,” says Paul, touching on these things, 


160 


THE TONGUE OF FIKE. 


u knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of 
man which is in him.” To you all minds are in¬ 
visible. True, the mind of your neighbor is in all 
respects the fellow of your own; yet you can not 
tell what is within it. It may be forming plans for 
your ruin or for your good; hut this is beyond 
your eye, or ear, or heart’s divining. Every man 
dwells in the invisible , and often rejoices to look 
out upon a race, no one of which can look in upon 
him. Yet oftener does he rejoice to pour himself 
into others, and multiply his own feelings in the 
spirits around him. When the invisible “ spirit 
of man” wills to make known “ the things of the 
man,” it has easy, though mysterious, means at 
command. 

A man is seated in his chamber, and deep things 
are passing in his mind. His mother sees that he is 
thinking ; but ask her to tell his thoughts, and she 
is at a loss. His wife looks into his eye, and knows 
that he is feeling; but ask her what is the spring 
and course of his emotion, and she is in the dark. 
His little daughter sees something lofty on her 
father’s brow, but what it is she knows not. Pres¬ 
ently a thousand people are before him, and “ the 
spirit of the man” is opening itself. A stream 
of thought is pouring from it ; thought which 
ranges from the most familiar objects at hand, to 
those which are hidden in the bosom of eternity. 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 161 

Yet all these thoughts, mingled with suitable emo¬ 
tion, pass straight from his unseen soul into the 
souls of the thousand people. How is this accom¬ 
plished ? 

Between him and them is floating a something 
which we call “ sound.” The keenest eye can not 
see it; the most delicate touch, or smell, or taste, 
can find no trace of it. it is rushing upon the 
ear, both eye and hand search in vain for it. Yet 
is it carrying invisible thought, from a soul invisible, 
by channels invisible, into the silent places of many 
souls, where the thoughts it raises are invisible to 
the nearest neighbor, till expressed in looks or 
words. The mind of the speaker pours a succes¬ 
sion of impulses through hidden chords to his 
tongue and lips: these strike the air, in which 
the stroke makes a wave ; that strikes on the drum 
of the ear, which causes a quivering of a nerve be¬ 
hind, that a quivering of the brain; and then the 
soul inside sees an image of Stephen dying, or Paul 
falling on the high-road, or Elijah ascending, or 
Jesus at the right hand of the Father ! What con¬ 
nection is there between a wave of air, a quiver of 
the brain, and an idea of heaven or hell, of sin or 
holiness? That the connection exists, is plain; but 
how? Make it plain how “the spirit of man,” 
which “ knoweth the things of a man” can reveal 
them within other spirits. All we can say is, God 
11 


162 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


has appointed a channel of communication, given to 
the spirit means of expression, and to its fellows 
means of perception. 

With this fact before us, illustrated not only in 
the one form just cited, but in a thousand forms 
every day, upon what pretext do we set up a cry 
of mystery as to the communication of the Spirit 
of God with man ? j^Sfcurdity can reach no limit 
greater than that of supposing that the central intel¬ 
lect knows no avenue to all intellect; that is, is de¬ 
fective in means of expression. Despair can hurl 
humanity no lower than to say that God, able to 
commune with it, enlighten, renew, and impel it, 
yet distantly stands away. For, if no communica¬ 
tion exists, the reason lies in Him. To say that the 
defect is not in His power of expression, but in our 
power of perception, changes nothing: if He can 
not “reveal the things of God” to man, with 
such powers of perception as man has, He can 
not adapt the expression of His own will to our 
state. 

Many who shun the extreme of denying that God 
does hold communion with human souls, yet covei 
the truth with a soft but cold cloak—a cloak of 
snow—by always speaking loudly of the mystery. 
What is the way of the Spirit? How can man 
recognize the voice, the eye, the countenance of 
God ? How is it possible to feel His anger or His 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 163 

favor, His presence or His withdrawal ? Is it not a 
mystery ? 

Yes, it is a mystery; but it is nothing more. A 
mystery is a thing we are most accustomed to. I 
know no one thing which I perfectly know. I know 
tern thousand which are full of mysteries. The nail 
of my finger is a mystery; the fact is manifest, the 
mode undiscoverable; about my hand I can ask 
more questions than all mankind can answer; wrist, 
arm, shoulder, all have mysteries; as I approach the 
heart, the brain, what crowds of questions rise and 
are checked by the known impossibility of an an¬ 
swer ! If “ the way of the Spirit” were capable of 
perfect explanation, the whole universe would be a 
riddle; for why should that which was so high be 
fully known, and every common tiling under our 
eye contain mysteries ? The mystery involved in 
the Lord’s communicating with any of His creatures 
is far less than that of our communicating one with 
another. He is of infinite intelligence; He planted 
the ear; He gave man speech: for Him, therefore, 
to communicate with any spirit existing, must be 
easier than for the sun to shine. 

“ Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have 
entered into the heart of man the things which God 
hath prepared for them that love Him.” The Apos¬ 
tle does not say this of Heaven: he is not even al¬ 
luding to it; for it is “the glory that is to be re- 


164 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


vealed;” whereas he says of the “good things” 
here in view, “ God hath revealed them unto us by 
His Spirit.” These good things, then, are not 
teachings, for of them eye, ear, and mind take cog¬ 
nizance; nor Heaven, for it is not yet revealed; 
but those blessings which “ are prepared” for those 
who come at the Lord’s call—pardon, adoption, and 
the favor of God. Anticipating the inquiry, “ How 
can those things be ? How can acts of mercy, 
which pass in the invisible world, be revealed to 
us?” the Apostle gives this simple illustration: 
“ What man knoweth the things of a man, save the 
spirit of man that is in him ? Even so the things 
of God knoweth no man, save the Spirit.” If the 
things of God are beyond our eye, ear, or discern¬ 
ment, so are those of a man: and if man can make 
his mind known, how much more the All-wise! 
“ How we have not received the spirit that is of the 
world, but the Spirit that is of God, that we might 
know the things that are freely given to us of God.” 
Adoption is an act seen by no man; and were no 
communication of it made to him in whose favor it 
hath passed, he could never by his senses or reason 
discover it. Though adopted, he would lie in the 
spirit of bondage. But that we may not be ignor¬ 
ant on this essential change in our relation to our 
heavenly Father, not ignorant of the things which 
His grace has bestowed, He has provided a Com- 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 165 

forter, whose benign work it is to solace onr hearts by 
letting us “ know” what the Lord hath done for us. 

The belief that God does not commune with man, 
is no result of reason. Reason has no footing for it. 
It is, indeed, hardly a belief; it is a feeling, followed 
by a sort of half-seen mental conclusion. A boy, 
conscious of deserving his father’s anger, somehow 
thinks he will not be received at home. Men, con¬ 
scious that they are aliens from God, recoil from the 
thought that the very breast, wherein they have 
caged things unclean, may be a shrine of His pres¬ 
ence. A feeling of moral improbability, of unfit¬ 
ness, leads the mind to shrink from such a hope. 
Hope, indeed, it does not seem at first; the boy 
forgets the hopefulness of standing by his father’s 
side in the dread of coming under his eye ; forgets 
the joy of regaining his favor in the heat of enmity 
to his rule and restraints. 

A natural difficulty to the Creator’s communion 
with His rational creatures never existed. A moral 
one did; and never was problem so deep as, How 
could the Holy One take the impure to His arms, 
and yet continue the Holy One ? That problem 
has been solved. The Holy meets the unholy over 
the blood of atonement. There is death for evil- 
doing, wrath against iniquity—yet mercy for the 
repenting. Sin is not encouraged, innocence is not 
confounded with guilt, and yet the fallen are lifted 


166 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


up. This moral difficulty being met, and no natural 
one ever having existed, did the Lord not commune 
with the soul of man as with His own “ offspring,” 
the only reason must be that He pleased to cut him 
off from such fellowship. To affirm this would be 
to run into downright opposition to the whole scope 
of revelation. 

Hot a few of those who, if formally expressing 
their belief, would maintain that the Spirit is to 
abide with the Church in all ages; that the idea of 
impossibility in His communing with man is absurd, 
and the cry of mystery unmeaning; nevertheless, 
in practice, effectually shut out His agency from 
their own view, and that of those who may be under 
their influence, by continually speaking of the truth, 
the truth only, as the power to renew this sinful 
world. Far be it from us to undervalue holy truth, 
and above all, that truth which flows untainted 
from the fount of inspiration; but a truth, even 
when Divine, is never more than a declaration of 
what is. It is not the power which renews the 
human soul, but the instrument of that power; not 
the electric current, but the conductor along which 
the current flows. It is necessary, as necessary as 
the metal wire to the telegraph; but, alone, it is as 
inefficient as the wire when the hidden power does 
not pervade it. 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 167 

• You may teach a man the holiest truths, and yet 
leave him a wretched man. Many who learn in 
childhood that “God is love ,’ 1 live disregarding, and 
die blaspheming, God. Thousands who are carefully 
taught, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
thou shalt be saved,” neglect so great salvation all 
their days. Some of the most wicked and misera¬ 
ble beings that walk the earth are men into whose 
conscience, when yet youthful and unsophisticated, 
the truth was carefully instilled. Did the mere 
truth suffice to renew, there are towns, districts, ay, 
countries, where all would be saints. 

Unmindful of this, and not considering the dan¬ 
ger of diverting faith from the power to the instru¬ 
ment, however beautiful and perfect the instrument 
may be, many good men, by a culpable inadvert¬ 
ence, constantly speak as if the truth had an inher¬ 
ent ascendancy over man, and would certainly pre¬ 
vail when justly presented. We have heard this 
done till we have been ready to ask, “ Do they take 
men for angels, that mere truth is to captivate them 
so certainly?” ay, and even to ask, “Have they 
ever heard whether there be any Holy Ghost ?” 

On one occasion it was our lot to hear a preacher 
of name, preaching before a great Missionary Soci¬ 
ety, from the text, “ I am come to send fire upon 
earth.” Choosing to interpret the fire referred to 
in this passage as the power which would purify 


168 


THE TONGUE OP PIKE. 


and renew the earth, he at once declared the trutl 
to be that power, and most consistently pursued hi? 
theme, without ever glancing at any thing but the 
instrument. Afterward, hearing the merits of the 
sermon discussed by some of the most eminent min 
isters of his own denomination, and finding no allu¬ 
sion to its theology, we asked, “ Did you not remark 
any theological defect ?” No one remarked any, till 
the minister of some obscure country congregation 
broke silence, for the first time, by saying, “Yes; 
there was not one word in it about the Holy 
Spirit.” 

The belief that truth is mighty, and by reason of 
its might must prevail, is equally fallacious in the 
abstract, as it is opposed to the facts of human 
history, and to the Word of God. We should 
take the maxim, that truth must prevail, as per¬ 
fectly sound, did you only give us a community of 
angels on whom to try the truth. With every in¬ 
tellect clear, and every heart upright, doubtless 
truth would soon be discerned, and, when dis¬ 
cerned, cordially embraced. But truth, in descend¬ 
ing among us, does not come among friends. The 
human heart offers ground whereon it meets error 
at an immeasurable disadvantage. Passions, habits, 
interests, ay, nature itself, lean to the side of error; 
and though the judgment may assent to the truth, 
which, however, is not always the case, still error 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 169 

may gain a conquest only the more notable because 
of this impediment. Truth is mighty in pure natures, 
error in depraved ones. 

Those who compliment Truth upon her might 
have need of much self-possession. What world do 
they dwell in, that they can utter such flattery 
under the gaze of her clear and sober eye ? What 
are these nations yet neglecting commercial and 
political truth, though all their interests invite them 
to embrace it ? What these “ enlightened” popula¬ 
tions that have had religious truth again and again 
held up in their view, but have angrily rejected it, 
though to the entailing upon themselves innumer¬ 
able social disadvantages? Where is the town 
where truth always prevails, or the village where 
error wins no victories ? Do they who know human 
nature best, when they have a political object to 
carry, trust most of all to the power of truth over a 
constituency ? or would they not have far more con¬ 
fidence in corruption and revelry ? The whole his¬ 
tory of man is a melancholy reproof to those who 
mouth about the mightiness of truth. “ But,” they 
say, “truth will prevail in the long run.” Yes, 
blessed be God, it will; but not because of its own 
power over human nature, but because the Spirit 
will be poured out from on high, opening the blind 
eyes, and unstopping the deaf ears. 

The sacred writings, while ever leading us to re- 


170 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


gard the truth as the one instrument of the sinner’s 
conversion and the believer’s sanctification, are very- 
far from proclaiming its power over human nature, 
merely because it is truth. On the contrary, they 
often show us that this very fact will enlist the pas¬ 
sions of mankind against it, and awaken enmity in¬ 
stead of approbation. We are ever pointed beyond 
the truth, to Him who is the Source and Giver of 
truth ; and, though we had Apostles to deliver the 
Gospel, are ever led not to deem it enough that it 
should be “ in word only, but in demonstration of 
the Spirit and in power.” 

We well know that many who speak of the truth 
as accomplishing all, do not mean the truth without 
the Spirit to apply it; but what is meant ought to be 
said. Hold fast the truth as an instrument divinely 
adapted and altogether necessary; but, in magnify¬ 
ing the instrument, never forget or pass by the 
agent. The Spirit in the truth, in the preacher, in 
the hearer; the Spirit first, the Spirit last, ought to 
be remembered, trusted in, exalted, arid not set 
aside for any more captivating name. There should 
never be even the distant appearance of wishing to 
avoid avowing a belief in the supernatural, or to re¬ 
duce Christianity to a system capable, at all points, 
of metaphysical analysis. If no supernatural power 
is expected to attend the Gospel, its promulgation 
is both insincere and futile. 


PERM AH' ENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. l7l 

In their reluctance to acknowledge any super¬ 
natural element in religion, many take refuge in the 
idea that, after all, we are not to expect what the 
primitive Christians enjoyed. If this means that we 
are not to expect miracles, to it we have no possible 
objection. If it means that we are to expect less 
grace, we can give it no kind of credit. Nothing 
can be more contrary to the whole spirit and genius 
of revealed religion, than that the progress of years 
and events should be coupled with a diminishing 
amount of Divine life and grace among men. All 
things promise us progress, not retrogression. No 
principle of Christianity, and no passage of the 
Christian Scriptures, warrant the expectation that 
the system is to decline with age, and to grow dim 
before its day ends. The mode of thinking to 
which we now refer, seems to be closely connected 
with the favorite idea of unbelief in the world—that 
of the Almighty “ leaving,” as men express it, one 
and another province of His territories to the care 
of secondary principles and powers. 

Limited as the human mind is, the idea of com¬ 
bining attention to the general and to the particular 
always presents to it an extreme difficulty. In its 
own experience, when taking a general view, it nec¬ 
essarily overlooks particulars; when minutely at¬ 
tending to particulars, it necessarily overlooks gen¬ 
erals. Unconsciously transferring the idea of its 


172 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


own limitation to the Supreme Power, it would 
ease Him of the incomprehensible task of at once 
minutely caring for every atom, and gloriously 
ruling the universe. But in the presence of the 
universal, the distinction between the particular 
and the general fades away. Artificial lights either 
shine in one particular apartment, leaving the street 
dim, or shine upon the street generally, leaving 
each particular apartment of the houses dim. But 
when the Universal Light arises, he knows no dis¬ 
tinction between general illumination and particular. 
Every little casement in the world is equally lighted 
as the broad valley of the Ganges, and every soli¬ 
tary daisy as well shone upon as if there was no 
other thing upon earth to lighten. 

“ He leaves, He leaves, He creates and leaves, 
leaves to the course of nature, leaves to general 
laws.” Such is the crude language we continually 
hear from men who would transfer the small ideas 
of human sense to the infinite sphere of the God¬ 
head. The idea of the Omnipresent leaving, for¬ 
saking any part of His own dominions, putting a 
limit to Himself, creating in fact the most incom¬ 
prehensible of all incomprehensible things, a place 
where there was not a Creator—the idea of His 
presence being an effort, or His embrace and super¬ 
intendence of nature being a task, is unworthy even 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 173 

of the dignity of physical science, much more of 
the sweep of human thoughts. 

On the wings of the wind—on the universal flow 
of electric power—on the swift sunbeams, filling up 
with a finite infinity the whole expanse of the solar 
system at once—on the light of a fixed star present 
with our eye, and at the same moment present 
through space inconceivably immense at every 
point from our eye to the star, and then away 
as far beyond, and round and round again at all 
conceivable points of the circumference on every 
side—on these confessedly finite objects our thought 
may rest, and rise step by step, till it easily springs 
to the idea of a complete and consistent Infinite, a 
presence literally everywhere, a power constant as 
eternity, an activity to which inaction would be ef¬ 
fort, an eye to which attention is but nature, and 
slumber would be an interruption of repose. 

Those who would exclude the Divine Being from 
His own universe, have been often exclaimed 
against, and justly; but how much more may they 
be exclaimed against who would exclude Him from 
His own Church, and from communion with His 
children? Had His power been exhausted by the 
act of creating and establishing the Church, and 
then had he committed its future course to the de¬ 
velopment of natural laws and the inherent power 
of the truth, Himself retiring from all action in the 


174 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


great battle whereupon He had set His servants, 
we might reasonably look upon Christianity as a 
religion which, perhaps, was better than others, 
more serviceable to the social interests of those 
who embrace it, and more genial in its influence 
upon the destiny of mankind; but higher motives 
than these for its propagation, or greater strength 
for the men who undertake the task, could not be 
calculated on. So far, however, from this being 
the case, the express promise with regard to the 
Spirit was, “ He shall abide with you foreverand 
when about to leave the disciples as to his bodily 
presence, the Saviour said, “ And, lo, I am with 
you alway, even unto the end of the world.” A 
presence this, better than a bodily presence; a 
presence by His Spirit and His power, whereby the 
souls of his children are made glad, and their 
hearts made strong, not in some solitary village of 
Galilee for the evening, but at the same hour all 
over the earth, wherever two or three are gathered 
together in His name. That presence will never be 
withdrawn while there is a believer whose heart 
embraces the promise ; and such believers will not 
fail while the world stands. So far from any thing 
in Scripture countenancing the idea that Christians 
of all subsequent ages were to be deprived of that 
Divine help which constituted the strength and 
holiness of the primitive disciples, we have no inti* 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 175 

mation that they were to he even inferior in spirit¬ 
ual attainments. On the contrary, every thing 
countenances the expectation that, as generation 
succeeds generation, the influence of holy faith and 
holy example will steadily tend to the elevation of 
the standard. 

As Christianity makes progress among a popula¬ 
tion, every new household which becomes imbued 
with it is an additional power toward elevating the 
standard of character in that neighborhood. It is 
impossible to calculate the influence exerted, even 
in a country like our own, where religion has yet so 
much to do, upon those who are still ungodly. In 
many points their consciences have been trained, 
by force of example and precept, to a tenderness 
and activity which Christian doctrine alone could 
give; and, as age after age rolls on, and the pro¬ 
portion between the saints and sinners becomes 
altered, the latter diminishing, the former growing, 
the image of God in man will be yet more and 
more brightly seen, if not more conspicuously, in 
some rare and blessed individuals, yet much more 
generally, as a common ornament and .glory of 
human nature. For a Christian now to expect to 
be made as holy by the grace of God as the saints 
of the New Testament, so far from being presump¬ 
tion, is scarcely a worthy measure of faith. It may 
be fairly said that, if we are not better than those 


176 


THE TONGUE OP FIEE. 


who went before us, we are not so good; for tne 
very light of their example sheds upon us an influ¬ 
ence to which nothing corresponding was shed upon 
them, and thereby gives us a clear advantage, by 
which, with a similar measure of grace, we ought 
to present a character more complete. 

Were it once proved that our moral strength in 
the present day was patural, then, indeed, might 
we reasonably limit our expectations, but not to 
partial attainments and incomplete holiness; for on 
that ground the reasonable limitation would be, 
not, “We shall attain to much, though not as much 
as the early Christians,” but, “We shall attain to 
nothing.” Our Lord’s word is not, “ Without Me 
ye can do little ,” but, “Without Me ye can do 
nothing .” If it then be settled that in this age, as 
in the first, our strength is not of nature, but of 
the Lord, the reasonable range of our expectation, 
now as then, is to be measured by His glorious 
power. The question no longer is, Of what are we 
capable in ourselves, or by ourselves ? but, What 
can He perform? and to what extent can He mani¬ 
fest forth His glory by making us monuments of 
His power, and mirrors to display His image ? 
That grace of His which was shed so plentifully on 
the believers of the first days, is not an intermittent 
radiance, like the flash of a human eye, but is 
steady as the glory which streams from the face 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHUKCH. 177 

of the sun. Waning or exhaustion it does not 
know; and from age to age, from generation to 
generation, His saints will grow more and more 
mature, human life will increasingly reflect the 
glory of the Lord, and display His power to make 
weak mortals, beset with temptation, meet to be 
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. 

Some who gladly admit that the Church, gene¬ 
rally, may advance in Christian virtues, yet hesitate 
to believe that individual Christians in our day are 
to enjoy the same comforts of the Spirit as were so 
conspicuous in the primitive Christians. Among 
these latter nothing is more noticeable than filial 
confidence and joy: their reconciliation to the Lord, 
their interest in the death and intercession of Christ, 
their consciousness of regeneration, of deliverance 
from sins once reigning over them, their clear fore¬ 
taste of heaven, and their peace in the prospect of 
death, shine throughout the Hew Testament, and 
all the early records of the Church. This was the 
natural “ fruit of the Spirit,” the natural effect of 
such a Comforter as the Redeemer had promised 
dwelling in the heart. Take this characteristic 
away, and they would at once fall from the level 
of “children of light,” of “heirs of God and joint 
heirs with Christ,” down to that of the votaries of 

other religions, among whom personal “joy in 
12 


178 THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 

God,” and prospects of immortal bliss, are things 
unknown. 

As we said before, that a religion without the 
Holy Spirit would not be Christianity, so we may 
say, that religionists without the Spirit in their 
hearts would not be Christians. “Ye are in the 
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. 
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ , he 
is none of His” It requires much of that cold 
daring which men may acquire as to things spirit¬ 
ual, for any one who even respects, though he 
should not study, the record of Christianity at its 
source, to teach that it is not a common privilege 
of believers to enjoy a sense of their salvation, and 
to walk in the light of God’s forgiving countenance. 
No scrap of holy writ even seems to favor this at¬ 
tempt to sink modern Christians to a point almost 
infinitely below that of ancient ones; for who can 
measure the distance between a soul which is sing¬ 
ing, “We know that we have passed from death 
unto life,” and one that is saying, “ I can not hope 
to know, till death strikes me, whether or not I 
shall escape dying forever ?” 

A change more serious can hardly be imagined 
in the relations of the Lord to His people, than 
would take place under the Christian dispensation, 
if, beginning by enabling believers to say, “We 
have a building of God, a house not made with 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 179 

hands, eternal in the heavens,” He ended by leaving 
them in utter doubt as to their future destiny; if, 
beginning by giving them a sense of His favor, 
clear as day, unspeakably joyful, He ended by leav¬ 
ing them to serve Him throughout life, without 
ever feeling conscious that He smiled upon them ; 
if, beginning by holding communion with them, He 
ended by leaving them to doubt whether He was 
even reconciled. It is trifling at once with a man’s 
common sense, and with his most sacred hopes and 
fears, to tell him that he is called with the same 
calling as the early believers, by the voice of the 
same Redeemer, under the same covenant of grace, 
and with the same promise of adoption ; but that, 
while his brother, ages ago, had “ peace with God,” 
and “joy unspeakable and full of glory,” knew 
himself to be a child and then an heir of God, and 
daily felt that heaven was'his home, he is to pro¬ 
ceed on his pilgrimage without any of these com¬ 
forts, and learn at the end whether or not his soul 
is to perish. Who has given any man the right 
to assert that such a change has taken place in 
the relation of the adopting Father to His adopted 
children, affirming Him to have grown, in our 
age, too indifferent to soothe their hearts, and 
make them partakers of the joy which He spreads 
among the angels when He declares that the “ lost 
is found ?” 


180 THE TONGUE OF FIKE. 

The change which the supposition we are com¬ 
bating would require in the office, or, at least, in 
the operation, of the Spirit Himself, under the very 
dispensation of the Spirit, is sufficiently grave, one 
might imagine, to make the least careful pause, ere 
he assumed that it had taken place. The act where¬ 
in the everlasting Father absolves a guilty being 
from his offenses, and recognizes him before the 
angels, as an heir of His glory must ever be of deep 
importance in the government of God. Of old time, 
when that great act took place, heaven rejoiced; 
but the deed did not remain without effect upon 
earth. The King had proclaimed a pardon, and 
that proclamation must have effect. The Comforter 
sped to the mourner’s heart. “ Where the Spirit 
of the Lord is, there is liberty.” With the presence 
of the Comforter, the captive found “ deliverance,” 
and he that was bound, an “ opening of the prison 
and, tasting the liberty of the children of God, he 
sang, “ O Lord, I will praise Thee: though Thou 
wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, 
and Thou comfortedst me.” 

Are we, then, on the word of some men, without 
one intimation of Scripture to support them, to be¬ 
lieve that the Spirit has so essentially changed His 
mode of dealing with a forgiven sinner, that now 
the decree of pardon promulged above, and hailed 
by angels, receives no effect in the soul of him 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH lfcl 

whom it absolves? that the Comforter abstains 
from comforting, leaving the ransomed captive 
still to mourn his captivity, without relieving 
him of liis load or of his chain? O Dove of 
Peace, ancient Comforter of the pilgrims whc 
traveled this heavenward road before us! they say 
that Thy wing has grown weary with the lapse of 
time! 

How great a change would take place also in the 
privilege of believers! “We are of God,” “born 
of God,” “heirs of God,” “followers of God, as 
dear children,” “ fellow-citizens with the saints, and 
of the household of God;” “once darkness, now 
light in the Lord.” Such was the sense of adoption 
enjoyed in apostolic times. Of all the privileges 
wherewith the soul of man ever has been blessed, 
or ever can be blessed in this life, by far the most 
consoling and elevating is the sense of adoption into 
the family of God. No man can read the New 
Testament, and deny that this was an ordinary 
characteristic of the believers then living, or that it 
was a main element of their strength, kindling in 
them a joy which made them ready to face reproach, 
and emulate high service. Where is the intimation 
that this privilege was to be denied to Christians in 
succeeding ages ? 

When Paul says, “ But I obtained mercy, that in 


182 


THE TONGUE OP FIRE. 


me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long- 
suffering, for a pattern to them which should here¬ 
after believe on Him to life everlasting,” does he 
give any intimation that the believers of following 
ages, though they should be believers just as he, 
and should obtain “life everlasting” just as he, and 
should have his case and his mercies before their 
eyes, as “ a pattern” whereby to measure their ex¬ 
pectations from Jesus Christ’s “ long-suffering” were 
yet to lose an essential portion of the believer’s 
joy; namely, the power of saying, “But I obtained 
mercy ?” Even the Psalmist, under a dispensation 
lower than our own, could say, “ I said, I will con¬ 
fess my transgressions unto the Lord, and Thou for- 
gavest the iniquity of my sin.” Does he hint that 
this is a privilege to which only few can attain, and 
from which the children of God, in the better days 
to come, shall be ordinarily debarred ? “ For this 

shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee, in a 
time when Thou mayest be found”—conveying a 
clear intimation, that, just as he, on confession of 
his sins, found forgiveness, such forgiveness as healed 
the grief of soul which he describes a moment be¬ 
fore, and enabled him to sing, as he here does, 
“ Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,”* 
so would every godly-disposed person find an ac¬ 
ceptable time, if he prayed to the same merciful 
° Psa’m xxxii. 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 183 


Lord for like forgiveness. No godly man, no one 
whose heart was seeking after God, in the day of 
David, could read this without feeling that the 
“ blessedness” of absolution was held out to him as 
his privilege. Indeed, all through the Psalms it is 
taken for granted that the righteous man rejoices 
in his forgiving God. And does the grace of our 
blessed Redeemer grow narrower as time advances ? 
Does He gradually withdraw the, light of His coun¬ 
tenance till upon us of the latter days complete dark¬ 
ness settles, and we are doomed to grope our way 
through life’s temptations without the encourage¬ 
ment of one smile from Him, and at the end to set a 
doubtful foot on the threshold of eternity ? 

The idea of any such deterioration in the privi¬ 
lege of believers is totally groundless; without one 
prop in Scripture or in reason. It is a structure of 
ice, formed in cold seasons, and melts away when 
brought either into the sunlight of Scripture, or the 
warmth of living Christian society. We could not 
easily believe in any accession to our privileges, be¬ 
yond those of our brethren in early times, unless it 
were clearly taught in the word of God; but if, 
without Scripture proof, we must believe either in 
an increase or in a diminution of them, we should 
choose the former, as far more supported by the 
analogy of the Lord’s dealings with men. 

“ Peace” was the Saviour’s legacy to His follow 


184 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


ers; peace to be imparted by the Comforter; peace 
which the world can not give, and which passeth 
understanding. He leaves no hint that this legacy 
was to be recalled before “ the end of the world.” 
Indeed, in both the Old Testament and the New, 
happiness is an essential part of religion; that kind 
of happiness which is called “joy in God through 
our Lord Jesus Christ.” The reigning of such joy 
in any human bosom clearly pre-supposes that the 
individual is satisfied of the reconciliation of God 
to him, notwithstanding his sins. Wherever this is 
doubtful, distrust, fear, and gloom must ever accom¬ 
pany the contemplation of the Most High; and 
this gloom would settle most densely on the most 
contrite spirit. Happiness is to be a feature of re¬ 
ligion to the last. That odious caricature of Chris¬ 
tianity, which offers to the view of the world a man 
with all the doctrines of the Gospel on his lips, but 
gloom on his brow, disquiet in his eye, and sourness 
in his bearing, has done infinite injustice to our be¬ 
nign religion, and infinite harm to those who never 
knew its worth. Now, as in the days of Solomon, 
“ her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her 
paths are peace.” Now, as in the days of David, 
she “ puts gladness into the heart, more than in the 
time that their corn and their wine increased.” 
Now, as in the days of Paul, she gives “joy and 
peace in believing.” Happiness is not a separable 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 185 

appendage of true piety; it is part of it, and an es¬ 
sential part: “ The joy of the Lord is your strength.” 
Some would regard happiness as if it were to relig¬ 
ion what a fine complexion is to the human coun¬ 
tenance—a great addition to its beauties, if present; 
but if not, no feature is wanting. In the sacred 
writings, from first to last, it is regarded as a feature, 
which we can not remove without both wounding 
and defacing. The kingdom of God is not only 
“ righteousness,” but “ righteousness and peace and 
joy in the Holy Ghost.” 

While that kingdom stands, this “joy in the Holy 
Ghost” will be the privilege of the children of God; 
and let no man stand between the humblest believer 
of this our day, and the full light of his Redeemer’s 
countenance. Let none take it for granted, that the 
work of God in the soul of man has degenerated ; 
that the merciful Father no more gladdens the 
prodigal He accepts, by letting him know He loves 
him; that Jesus no longer says, “ Be of good cheer, 
thy sins be forgiven thee;” or that when a penitent 
is accepted as a son, the gracious Comforter does 
not now, as in the old time, hasten on His dove-like 
message to diffuse heavenly peace in another trou¬ 
bled bosom. 

The assertion sometimes confidently made, that 
the witness of the Spirit to our adoption is given to 
some believers, years after their conversion, as the 


186 


THE TOITGUE OF FIRE. 


reward of special holiness, has not even a pretext 
of scriptural footing. The witness of the Spirit, so 
far from being the reward of sanctification, is one 
of its chief springs; for without love there is no holi¬ 
ness, and we only love because we feel that God 
first loved us. “Because ye are sons , God hath 
sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, 
crying, Abba, Father.” Not because you are old 
and eminent among the sons of God, but because 
you are sons: it is not a good-service reward, but a 
birthright; not a crown of distinction, but a joy 
of adoption. “ In whom ye also trusted, after that 
ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your sal¬ 
vation; in whom after that ye believed, ye were 
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.” Here the 
order is, “Ye heard, believed, were sealed:” no 
long period of doubt and labor intervenes between 
the believing and the sealing. The father of the 
prodigal does not keep him for years, working “ as 
one of his hired servants,” before he prints the fath¬ 
erly kiss of reconciliation on his cheek and on his 
heart. 

The hackneyed objection, that it is presumption 
for any one to say that he is a child of God, takes 
too much for granted. It never is presumption to 
acknowledge what you are. Had David never been 
taken from the sheepcote and made king, it would 
nave been presumption in him to say that he had; 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 187 

but, when it was the case, he was in gratitude 
bound to own and to commemorate the mercy 
showed to him. So, if a man has not been delivered 
from the dominion of sin, and adopted into the fam¬ 
ily of God, for him to say that such is the case is 
presumption; but if he has, then not to praise his 
Redeemer for it, would be ingratitude. Saying that 
it is presumption for any one to call himself the 
child of God, takes it for granted that no one is; or 
else it is absurd. Presumption has many forms; 
and it is worth considering, whether a great and 
good Being would most disapprove the presumption 
which expected too much from His goodness, or the 
presumption which dared positively to disbelieve 
His promise. 

Many who readily admit that, to some extent at 
least, the Church in all ages will enjoy the gifts and 
graces of the Holy Spirit; and who would not deny 
that the first believers were favored with direct 
manifestations of the favor of God, yet make a diffi¬ 
culty of believing that, when sinners are forgiven in 
the present age, they are comforted by the Spirit 
manifesting Himself in their hearts, and crying, 
“ Abba, Father.” They do not deny that, even in 
our day, forgiven sinners are solaced with a confi¬ 
dence that they are forgiven; but they see pruden¬ 
tial reasons against admitting that this is imparted 


188 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


by the direct witness of the Spirit, and would ar 
rive at it by a process which, however unwittingly 
on their part, removes the office of sealing the 
adopted children of God from the Spirit, and gives 
it to the reason of man. They teach the seeker of 
salvation that, instead of looking to the Cross for 
mercy, till the Spirit, as the Comforter, “ reveals 
the Son of God in his hearthe is certainly to look 
to the Cross, but not to expect that to bring any 
such manifestation; on the contrary, he is only to 
learn what are the marks of a child of God, to com¬ 
pare his life with them, and, if it and they agree, his 
mind will arrive at the comfortable persuasion that 
he is a child of God. 

This is one instance of the common error of taking 
part of a process for the whole. On the part of the 
Christian, the comparison of the scriptural marks 
of the regenerated with his own character, is not 
only good, but absolutely necessary ; for, no matter 
what may be his supposed comforts, joys, or revela¬ 
tions, if, in his life, he is not led by the Spirit of 
God, he is not a son of God. But because certain 
evidence is essential as a corroboration, it does not 
follow that it is the chief evidence of the fact, the 
first ground of conviction. As a guard against delu¬ 
sion, a strengthening of our confidence, and a con¬ 
stant stimulus to press forward to the things which 
are before, a sober judgment passed upon our own 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHIJECH. 189 

progress in grace is scriptural, rational, and indis¬ 
pensable. As the mode of binding up the broken 
heart of a penitent, of imparting to him the first feel¬ 
ing of filial confidence in the Lord, it is neither scrip¬ 
tural nor rational. It never can be the original 
ground of consciousness in any soul, that, through 
the abundance of grace, I, even I, am an adopted 
child of God. 

Yet this is the consciousness to be given, and 
that not to the heart of one who is “ whole,” but 
of one who is “sick;” not of a man who thinks 
that he is good, who is ready to interpret every 
thing in his own favor, and has no feeling that he is 
vile, or that the Lord is angry with him; but of 
one who now feels what probably he believed all 
his life, that he is a sinner, covered with dark and 
filthy spots, the displeasure of the Lord hanging 
over him for many unholy deeds, and his poor soul 
both fitted for destruction and exposed to it. Un¬ 
til painfully sensible of his need of Christ, no man 
flees to Him for refuge; and one in this state of 
feeling is soberly told, that his burden is to be re¬ 
moved, and the sense of his salvation to be origin¬ 
ated, by his being satisfied of the agreement of his 
own life with the fruits of the Spirit, as stated in the 
word of God. 

What are those fruits ? “Love, joy, peace,” etc., 
ar “ righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy 


190 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


Ghost.” No enumeration of the fruits of the Spirit 
will be found which excludes peace and joy, much 
less love; and from these graces, if, indeed, not 
from the last named alone, spring the various fruits 
which unitedly constitute “righteousness.” The 
poor penitent, then, is not to be first relieved of his 
load, and given to feel that God loves him; but, 
previous to obtaining such Divine comfort, he is to 
become satisfied that his love, joy, peace, and other 
graces, are such as to mark the children of God! 
that is, while yet feeling that the Lord is angry 
with him, he is to love the Lord; while yet feeling 
that is soul is unsaved, he is to feel joy in the Holy 
Ghost. If it be said that the feeling of the Lord’s 
wrath and his own danger is removed before the 
filial affections appear, then a direct action of the 
Comforter, antecedent to his satisfaction with his 
own graces, is admitted; and if that be denied, 
there is no alternative but to conclude that, at the 
same time and in the same heart, one can both feel 
that he is under God’s anger, and love God as a 
forgiving Father; can feel that he is in danger of 
hell, and enjoy spiritual peace. If the sense of wrath 
and danger is removed before the fruits of the 
Spirit appear, there is a direct witness of the Spirit 
Himself; if not till after, the totally incompatible 
states of mind just mentioned must co-exist 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 191 


The relation of the fruit of the Spirit to the wit¬ 
ness of the Spirit is clearly indicated to us. John 
says, “We love Him because He first loved us.” 
Here the fruit, “We love,” is made consequent on 
our sense of the fact , “ He first loved us.” To say 
that we first know that God loves us, because we 
feel that we love Him, is to make the fruit of the 
Spirit the foundation of the witness of the Spirit; 
a relation totally repugnant to the principle an¬ 
nounced in this text, and pervading the Hew Tes¬ 
tament, as, indeed, also the Old. “ Bless the Lord, 
O my soul, and forget not all His benefits ; who for- 
giveth all thine iniquities.” The fact of forgiveness 
ascertained is the ground of filial gratitude; not 
filial gratitude the ground from which the fact of 
forgiveness is inferred. 

Mental conclusions, as to spiritual truths, do not 
govern the feelings. The marks of “ a child of 
wrath” are plainly laid down. Thousands know 
that they bear them; and yet this produces no con¬ 
trition or distress, till the coming Spirit pierces 
their hearts. As it is with convincing, so would it 
be with comforting. A mental conclusion as to my 
own spiritual attainments would never dispel a sense 
of guilt from my conscience, or make my trembling 
heart “rejoice in the Lord.” Did an awakened 
sinner conclude a hundred times that the marks in 
the Bible and the traits in his character agreed, his 


192 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


wounded spirit having no other balm, all this con¬ 
cluding would never heal his sore. The same voice 
which spoke condemnation into his conscience, 
must speak justification; the same hand which 
broke his hard heart must hind it up. 

The deeper the penitence of any one, the slower 
would he be to take comfort from any good in 
himself; therefore, on a theory which makes this the 
foundation of comfort, the further would he be 
from finding rest; while, on the more evangelical 
view, the very depth of his penitence would drive 
him the more speedily to bring his burden to the 
Cross, when it would fall off. 

This allusion brings Bunyan and his Pilgrim once 
more to our view. He does not set Christian to 
undo, his own burden by arguing, “I have fled 
from the City of Destruction; I have forsaken 
house and friends, wife and children ; have resisted 
temptations to return; have knocked at the gate 
and entered in, and am in the narrow pathbut, 
with all this done, he brings him to “ a place some¬ 
what ascending,” where stands a cross, and, “just 
as Christian came up with the cross , his burden 
loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his 
back.” He did not cast off the burden by a pro¬ 
cess which could easily be explained; but, when he 
set his eye on the cross, it fell off itself; and u it 
was very surprising to him that the sight of the 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 193 

cross should thus ease him of his burden.” And so 
it is to others; but, however surprising, do thou, 
my penitent brother, heed no other direction than 
that which points thine eye straight to the Cross; 
for pardon, for escape from hell, for rest, and hope, 
and purity, look thither, thither, only thither! If 
thy burden fall not at once, yet still look, look to 
the Cross, and fall it will, far sooner, and far more 
surely, than if thou attempt to untie it by thy ar¬ 
guments ! 

As Christian thus stood before the cross,, wonder¬ 
ing, the “ Three Shining Ones came to him: the 
first said, 4 Thy sins be forgiven theethe second 
stripped him of his rags, and clothed him with 
change of raiment; the third, also, set a mark on 
his forehead, and gave him a roll with a seal upon 
it, which he bid him look on as he ran, and that he 
should give it in at the celestial gate.” 

This is unsophisticated Christianity. A burdened 
sinner, after discouragements and wanderings, comes, 
at last, to the foot of the Cross. He looks, and is 
healed; his pardon, freely given, is tenderly mani¬ 
fested to him. The Father, Son, and Spirit unite 
to assure his heart, and give him present and abid¬ 
ing peace. He receives an evidence of acceptance, 
where he may always 

“ Read his title clear 
To mansions in the skies.” 

13 


194 


THE TONGUE OF EIRE. 


After this, the more he “ searches” his own self, 
“ and proves” his own self, “ whether he he in the 
faith,” the better for his vigilance and progress. 
But no such examining before would have unloosed 
his burden, or given him the roll. 

The theory of an inferential comforting of be¬ 
lievers, as a substitute for the scriptural mode of a 
u witness” of the Spirit, is singularly hopeless; for, 
at every step, it is obliged to lean upon that which 
it professes to dispense with and replace. It rests 
all “ quietness and assurance” for penitent hearts on 
the fruits of the Spirit; and the very chief of those 
fruits, “ love,” etc., pre-supposes the witness of the 
Spirit by a necessity as clear as that by which re 
pentance pre-supposes His convincing operation. 

No ; the sealing and solacing of penitei\t be¬ 
lievers is not left to mere reasoning, especially with 
a foundation so liable to be misapprehended as our 
own attainments in grace. It is the work and office 
of that “ other Comforter” whom our dying Lord 
promised ; and let no man take it out of His hand. 
He it is who “cries” in the heart, “Abba, Father!” 
He who seals, He who bears witness, He who sheds 
abroad the love of God, He who enables us to know 
the things that are freely given to us of God. Any 
attempts to escape the mystery involved in the 
Holy Spirit revealing the mercy of God to a human 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 195 

soul only leads to contradictions and perplexities, 
To the old question, “ How can these things be ?” 
the one sufficient answer is, “ They are spiritually 
discerned.” What the Lord spiritually reveals, the 
soul can spiritually discern; and a Divine presence, 
or a Divine communication, may be assumed always 
to carry its own evidence with it, first to the con¬ 
sciousness, and then, by its fruits, to the reason. 
“One thing I know: whereas I was blind, now 
I see.” 

It is not to be wondered at that many who are 
sincere, and even earnest, pass the days of their 
pilgrimage in gloom, having no roll in their bosom 
which they know can be presented “ at the celestial 
gate;” no conscious title to enter into the city; no 
permanent “joy or peace in believing.” Nothing is 
more dangerous than to divert the eye from the one 
object of faith. And if persons are not taught to 
look, and look upon the Cross, until their sins are 
blotted out, and the comforting Spirit Himself heals 
their wounds, but to seek rest by noting their own 
progress in the Christian graces, and are at the 
same time left without any fellowship of saints, 
through which they might learn by what steps of 
fear and doubt, of despair, and hope, and faith, 
others, whose whole spirit savors of the peace of 
God, obtained that blessing; is it not natural that 


196 


THE TONGUE OP FIRE. 


they should walk in dim moonlight instead of walk¬ 
ing in the sun? Yet, even amid those so dealt 
with, the Lord oftentimes breaks up man’s theories 
by converting a sinner with such manifestation of 
the Spirit that it would be equally impossible to 
persuade him that his peace first came by contem¬ 
plating his graces, and to keep him from telling 
what the Lord had done for his soul. 

The character of the Christian Church, as a whole, 
must always be ruled by the character of individual 
Christians; for the Church is but the assembly and 
aggregate of individuals. If, then, as the ages ad¬ 
vance, the individual Christian degenerate, the 
Church must gradually degenerate also, her minis¬ 
try be debilitated, and her efforts upon the world 
be less fruitful. All Christian character depends on 
the relations of the soul with its Creator: if these 
be cold instead of being joyous, if they be gov¬ 
erned by the feeling of a doubtful reconciliation in¬ 
stead of that of a happy sonship, then, of necessity, 
the life is overcast with the shadows of not im¬ 
probable perdition instead of being sunned with 
cloudless hopes of glory, and service is rendered 
as to an austere Master instead of to a most forgiv¬ 
ing and loving Father. Strike from the language 
of the Christian the words, “ Our fellowship is with 
the Father and the Son,” and at once we have a 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 197 

race whose religion is not the religion of John, 
whose heart-strength is not drawn from the same 
sources as his. 

Whether it be in comforts, in sensible communion 
with the reconciled Deity, or in practical sanctifica¬ 
tion of life, we contend that all Scripture holds out 
to us disciples of this actual hour, poor and unde¬ 
serving though we he, the same sources and the 
same measure of grace as were open to our breth¬ 
ren of former times. There has been no recall of 
the Spirit, no curtailing of the “ abundant pardon,” 
no abridging of the privileges of the adopted. The 
promise of the Holy Spirit was not only to the first 
converts; but, as Peter, addressing them, said, “ to 
us, and to our children, and to all that are afar off, 
even to as many as the Lord our God shall call.” 
However distant from that spot in Jerusalem, and 
however distant from that moment of time, the cal) 
might sound, it would carry with it the promise ; 
even that promise, the fulfillment of which made 
the early Church so holy and so victorious. The 
flames, the tongues, the outward signs, were not 
the saving grace of the Spirit. That was “ within 
you,” in the soul of man, and was shown in “ new’ 
creatures.” That saving grace of the Spirit, 'work¬ 
ing in Christians now, constitutes their identity with 
those of old. Without this, in apostolic times, 
though one spoke with “ the tongues of angels and 


198 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


of men,” and could “work all miracles,” he was 
not a true disciple. With this, in our times, though 
one work no miracle, and speak not with tongues, 
he is a true disciple; for, “ as many as are led by 
the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” 
Miraculous gifts were not of the essence, but sepa¬ 
rable attendants, of a real Christian; and all that 
was then essential remains to us, unimpaired and 
free as ever it was to them. 

Father, Son, and Spirit! pardon the unbelief 
which has imagined that Thou didst repent of 
the exceeding abundance of grace once given to 
Thy ransomed Church ! Afflict us not, on ac¬ 
count of it, by a real withdrawal of Thy presence! 
Manifest forth Thy glory anew, by filling Thy 
children with joy and light, that the world may 
see that Thine ancient love and grace remain our 
heritage! 

Next to the question, whether the privileges of 
the modern Christian, as respects grace, are to be 
equal with those of the primitive one, comes the 
question, whether the Christian ministry is now es¬ 
sentially the same institution as at first ? If be¬ 
lievers are not now the same as formerly, it is im¬ 
possible that the same religion should be preserved 
in the world; and if the Ministers be not the same, 
it is highly improbable that the ordinary members 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 199 

of the Church will be so. Few would take the 
ground that our Lord founded His ministry on 
an unstable basis, requiring essential changes to 
render it capable of perpetuation in any age or 
country to which Christianity might extend: and 
all would admit the high probability that the prin¬ 
ciples on which He established it were those best 
adapted for its success under every future change 
of circumstances. 

When we look at the example of the New Testa¬ 
ment, its spirit, usages, and principles, it is too 
manifest to need more than assertion, that the 
anointing of the Holy Spirit was the one thing es¬ 
sential in the Minister of the Gospel. As we have 
before said that a religion without the Holy Spirit 
would not be Christianity, and that religionists with¬ 
out the Holy Spirit would not be Christians, so we 
may strongly say that teachers without the Holy 
Spirit would not be Christian Ministers, according 
to the original sense of that term, the only sense in 
which we find it employed in the sacred writings. 
Every arrangement respecting the training, or 
labors, of Christian Ministers, which does not pro¬ 
ceed upon the ground that they are certainly to be 
men first regenerated, then gifted for the ministry, 
and moved to it, by the operation of the Holy 
Spirit—an operation not to be assumed without 
proof, but to be tested by its fruits—must be as 


200 


THE TONGUE OE FIRE. 


faulty in theory, and as inefficient in practice, as 
any arrangement for the employment of fire-arms, 
which did not proceed on the groimd that explosion 
is the source of power. The how was a mighty 
weapon, and its combination of steel and timber, 
of cord and arm, of the strength of the vegetable, 
the mineral, the animal, entitled it to the admira¬ 
tion and confidence of many a host; and, as all its 
forces were mechanical, no question ever needed to 
be raised but one lying within the limits of mecha¬ 
nical inquiry. But the moment you adopt powder 
as your impeller, the elasticity of yew, or the 
strength of muscle, are considerations out of place. 
You have left mechanics, and cast yourself upon 
chemistry ; and all your calculations must pro¬ 
ceed on the ground that you have but to provide 
an instrument which will co-operate with an ex¬ 
plosive agent. 

The New Testament ministry rests not on mental, 
emotional, or educational strength, but, using each 
of these as occasion may serve, finds its own power 
in a spiritual influence ; and all reasoning applied to 
it, without being founded on this fact, is reasoning 
on the rifle upon principles belonging to the bow. 

The miraculous gifts imparted to many in the 
early Church are carefully ranked and marked by 
the hand of the Apostle as inferior to those gifts 
which were “ for edification, and exhortation, and 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 201 

comfort.” “ And God hath set some in the Church, 
first Apostles, secondarily Prophets, thirdly Teach¬ 
ers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, 
governments, diversities of tongues.”* Here mira¬ 
cle-working, healing, and speaking with divers 
tongues, are set as inferior gifts to those whereby 
men were constituted teachers or prophets. A 
similar design is observed in Ephesians iv. 11 : 
“And he gave some, Apostles; and some, Prophets; 
and some, Evangelists; and some, Pastors and 
Teachers.” Here we do not find any miraculous 
gifts even mentioned as part of the institution of 
Christ “for the perfecting of the saints, for the 
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body 
of Christ:” to this—the true end of the ministry— 
the effects produced by miraculous gifts were only 
auxiliary. True, the Apostles, Prophets, and Evan¬ 
gelists, as, indeed, also the Pastors and Teachers, 
possessed, and often exercised, miraculous gifts; 
but it was not by these they effected the “ perfect¬ 
ing of the saints, the work of the ministry, or the 
edifying of the body of Christ.” The essential 
point with regard to every one proposed for the 
sacred office is, to ascertain whether or not he is “ a 
man sent of God.” 

As the gift of the Spirit Himself is represented 
as consequent upon the ascension of our Lord, so, 
* 1 Cor. xiL 28. 


202 


THE TONGTJE OF FIRE. 


in the passage in Ephesians to which we have just 
alluded, the institution of the ministry also is repre¬ 
sented as the result of His triumphant ascension. 
“ He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, 
and gave gifts unto men;” and “He gave some, 
Apostles; and some, Prophets,” etc. These were 
the gifts which He, from His throne of mediation, 
bestowed on His Church—men endued with power 
by His Spirit, and also moved by the same Spirit to 
spend their lives in the work of the ministry for the 
edifying of the body of Christ. Whether we take 
the Prophets under the old dispensation, or the 
Lord’s messengers under the new, we find that the 
distinctive characteristics of a true Minister of God 
lay in a call and a qualification. The qualification 
involved a gift, a power, and a training. He who 
had a call from God, a gift from God, and a powei 
from God, and he only, was ever Prophet, Evange¬ 
list, or Pastor and Teacher, in any scriptural sense. 
The training varied with the age, dispensation, and 
circumstances; but no training ever did, or ever 
can, make him a Minister who has no call, no gifts, 
and no power sent upon his soul by the anointing 
of the eternal Spirit. 

The call pre-supposed grace, or the moral qualifi¬ 
cation, and implied a gift, or what may be called the 
mental qualification; for, to call without imparting 
a gift, would be leading an unarmed soldier into 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 203 

oattle; and to call and gift an unregenerate man, 
would be to commission and arm a rebel: these 
two, therefore, call and qualification, can never be 
looked upon as separable. “The love of Christ 
constraineth us,” is the language in which the apos¬ 
tle expresses that which is essential in the internal 
working of a call from God to spend and to be. spent 
for the salvation of men; and he who, thus con¬ 
strained by the love of Christ, finds himself pos¬ 
sessed of a gift to speak to edification, or exhorta¬ 
tion, or comfort, has, in that motion and in that 
faculty, strong evidence that the Lord is calling 
him into His vineyard. What he feels is not a mere 
desire to enter the ministry as a good and useful 
office, or to spend life in an honorable and happy 
vocation; but is a constraining movement of the 
love of Christ, as if issuing from His heart into the 
heart of His servant, and working there a strong 
impulse to cry out and labor for the recovery of 
Adam’s lost children to the favor of their God, and 
the rest of heaven. But, however strongly this de¬ 
sire may exist, if it be not accompanied with a gift 
for public teaching, that alone proves that the Lord 
has not designed the operation of His love to con¬ 
strain this particular individual to the public labors 
of the ministry, but to other efforts for the same 
end. Him whom God sends to any work, He qual¬ 
ifies for that work. 


204 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


A person feeling a true impulse to labor for 
Christ, and misjudging his own gift, may conceive 
himself to be called for the ministry when he is far 
from being qualified for it; and, on this point, the 
onus of judgment can not properly be laid upon 
him, but must rest upon the Church. He, and he 
only, can judge as to the inward motive of his soul, 
whether or not his heart is moved by the Holy 
Ghost to undertake this work; and the fact, that 
the responsibility of declaring that he believes him¬ 
self to be so moved is thrown upon the candidate 
for the ministry by most Churches, if not by all, is a 
public and solemn testimony that the operation of 
the Holy Spirit in the heart is recognized as con¬ 
tinuing to be the one basis of qualification for the 
ministry of the Gospel. Only one’s own self can 
tell what has passed between the soul and its Sav¬ 
iour. Ho stranger intermeddleth with the question 
whether the Spirit has, or has not, in holy prompt¬ 
ings, moved one to consecrate his life to the sole 
work of edifying and multiplying the flock of 
Christ. If any come to offer his hand to the Church 
for this high service, on his own soul it lies to say 
whether or not he is led by an impulse from on 
high, or by ordinary professional motives. 

The Church, nevertheless, has her responsibility; 
and before she seals the credentials of any, she is 
bound to take note whether the Lord Himself has 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 205 

sealed them by the gifts of His Holy Spirit. As 
much as the responsibility lies on the individual of 
making or not making a solemn profession that he 
is inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost, does the 
responsibility lie upon the Church to see that he 
has all the corroborative marks of such a call. Those 
marks are grace, gifts, fruit. Does his whole life 
testify that he has felt the repentance to which he 
is to call sinners, exercised the faith to which he is 
to encourage penitents, and experienced, in some 
degree, that sanctification to which he is to lead on 
believers ? If the evidence of this be not clear, the 
Church sins a grievous sin in accrediting him to the 
world as one qualified to “warn every man, and 
teach every man, that he may present every man 
perfect.” No circumstance of time, age, nation, or 
aught else, can authorize any Church to dispense 
with the essential qualification that he who is to be 
a minister of God shall first be a child of God. Any 
credentials given without full proof of this, are pre¬ 
sumptuous and null. When our Lord was about to 
restore to his beloved disciple Peter the commission 
which his fall had seemed to forfeit, He puts to him 
the question, “Lovest thou Me ?” and thrice repeats 
it, searching him to the soul; and, on the ground 
that he does love Him, intrusts him anew with the 
commission, “ Feed My sheep.” No man whose 
true love to the Saviour is doubtful, who can not 


206 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


appeal to Him who knoweth all things as witness 
that he does love Him, has that qualification for a 
commission which is most indispensable of all—loy 
alty to the King. 

“ The same commit thou to faithful men/ 
“ Who is that faithful and wise steward whom the 
Lord will set oyer His house, to give to every man 
a portion of meat in due season ?” In both of these 
passages, as all through the Word of God, the spir¬ 
itual qualification is set as a consideration anteced 
ent to that of gifts: first of all “ faithful;” but not 
merely “ faithful.” “ The same commit thou to 
faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” 
The steward is to be not only “ faithful,” but “wise,” 
able to distribute to every one in due season. He 
who is not apt to teach, ought never to be commis¬ 
sioned as a teacher. The gifts of the Spirit are va¬ 
rious. “ To one is given the word of wisdom, to 
another the word of knowledge, to another proph¬ 
ecy.” With regard to the servants of the Lord 
Christ, according to the gift of each, so let his 
sphere be. If “ prophecy, let him prophesy accord¬ 
ing to the proportion of faith ; or teaching, let him 
wait on his teaching; or he that exhorteth, on ex¬ 
hortation.” 

When, therefore, any one comes forward to offer 
himself as a laborer in the vineyard of the Lord, 
before he can be rightly assigned to any sphere, the 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 207 

question as to his spiritual character must be favor¬ 
ably decided, and then his sphere should be deter 
mined by his gifts. Which of the various gifts of 
the Holy Spirit have been conferred upon him ? 
If none of them, who dare say that he is to be a 
minister of God, and a teacher of the souls of men? 
Surely this is not the Church of Christ, that is going 
to lay hands upon a man, of whom no one knows 
whether he has any gift whatever from God—a 
man whose voice has never been raised in exhorta¬ 
tion, teaching, preaching, or public prayer, who has 
given no more evidence of gifts and fitness than a 
thousand others who make no pretension to be fit 
—going to set such an one over hundreds of pro¬ 
fessed Christians as their teacher and pastor, as the 
leader of their devotions, and the only instructor 
of their souls! 

It is a manifest inversion of Christian order, 
when the commission of the Church is taken to 
be the authority to commence the exercise of spirit¬ 
ual gifts. In the Hew Testament the Church’s 
/only warrant for issuing her commission is the 
known possession of such gifts; and this can only 
be proved by their previous exercise. Her work 
was not to create gifts, but from among the gifted 
brethren to select those whom the Lord had, by 
His own will and act, previously fitted for special 
offices. The ordination of the Church to the min- 


208 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


istry was not a Christian’s first authority to preach 
Christ; for that, opportunity and ability were 
authority enough; but the special eminence and 
usefulness of some among the company of preach¬ 
ers was the Church’s warrant for separating them 
to the sole work of the ministry. If a commission 
from the Church be held to supply the place either 
of the Spirit’s constraining call, or of His qualifying 
gift, His office in perpetuating the ministry is super¬ 
seded. To do this effectually, it is not necessary 
to blot from creeds the expressions of right belief, 
but only to adopt in practice such regulations as 
will enable men without grace, or without gifts, by 
the use of ordinary professional preparations, to 
obtain a commission, and stand up as accredited 
stewards of the mysteries of God. 

The operation of the Spirit in fitting the minister 
for the work of God is seen, in the Old Testament, 
in connection, not with the priestly office, but with 
that of the prophet. The former was a typical and 
temporary office, existing only as the precursor and 
type of the great High Priest, and terminating 
at once and forever when He whom it foreshadow¬ 
ed had made His offering, and passed within the 
vail. The work of the priest was not to teach, 
edify, warn, and forewarn, but to be the medium 
of access to the presence of God on His mercy-seat. 
As such, he has no earthly successor in Christianity: 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 209 

his office, we repeat, ended forever with the atone¬ 
ment and ascension of our Lord. Then came a 
change of the priesthood, that of Levi giving place 
to that of Melchisedec, which was vested, not in a 
succession of mutable men, but all in the Unchang¬ 
ing One, whose sacrifice should never need repeti¬ 
tion, whose years should never fail, and whose' in¬ 
finite tenderness should feel every infirmity of 
every suppliant. 

The office of the prophet was to warn, to re¬ 
prove, to rebuke, to exhort, as well as to foreshow. 
That office is not repeated in all its features in the 
Christian “ pastor and teacher,” but as to its essen¬ 
tials it is. Foretelling is the one function wherein 
the two differ; and that was appropriately the gift 
of an age in which revelation was incomplete, and 
all the hopes of believers turned to a light yet un¬ 
risen. Indeed, it may be worth considering whether 
the perpetuation of the foretelling gift would not 
suppose an incomplete revelation, and whether the 
closing of the oanon of revealed truth does not nat¬ 
urally carry with it the termination of that wonder¬ 
ful gift by which, from age to age, additions had 
been made to the previous stores of truth. 

When St. Paul urges upon us to desire, and, in¬ 
deed, to follow after, the “ spiritual gift” of proph¬ 
ecy, and holds out the inducement which should 
lead us to covet it above all other gifts, he has not 
14 


210 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


in his eye, and does not present to ours, the honor 
or the profit of foretelling. The only inducements 
he assigns are these: “ He that prophesieth speak- 
eth unto men to edification, and exhortation, and 
comfort.” “ I would that ye all spake with tongues, 
hut rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he 
that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, 
except he interpret, that the Church may receive 
edifying * * * But if all prophesy, and there 
come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he 
is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are 
the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so, 
falling down on his face, he will worship God, and 
report that God is in you of a truth.” Thus, in the 
passages where the Apostle speaks most upon the 
Christian gift of prophecy, he makes no allusion to 
foretelling; and in the Acts of the Apostles we 
read that “Judas and Silas, being prophets also 
themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, 
and confirmed them.” We have no record any¬ 
where of Silas foretelling, nor is there the least al¬ 
lusion to the exercise of such a gift; yet his ex¬ 
hortation and that of Jude, with their confirming 
arguments or appeals, are at once set down as the 
exercise of the prophetic gift. 

The highest office of the Spirit in the Prophet of 
the old dispensation was to enable him to see and 
to depict “ the sufferings of Christ, and the glory 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 211 

that should follow,” as though they were before his 
eye; and the highest office of the same Spirit in 
God’s minister, in our day, is to enable him to des¬ 
cry, by an inner eye, the glories and the grace of a 
Lord whom he has never seen; and to descant 
upon them as though his eye beheld Him, and his 
ear was tingling with His voice. The same spirit¬ 
ual light which made a future Redeemer present to 
Isaiah, is needful to make a past Redeemer present 
to the Christian preacher. Without it, the one 
might have had an expectation, and the other 
might have a belief; but neither could burn and 
melt as in the presence of a living, loving, redeem¬ 
ing Prince of Peace. The spirit of prophecy illu¬ 
minated the future to the one, and illuminates the 
past to the other—gave that which was a promise 
the force of a thing done, and gives that which is a 
record the force of a thing now doing. 

The difference, within the soul of a man, between 
merely cherishing an expectation or a belief, and 
seeing, feeling, thrilling under the impression of a 
present Friend and Deliverer, makes in his utter¬ 
ance the difference between a tame declaration 
which disturbs neither prejudice nor indifference, 
and an overpowering force of speech that bears 
men’s hearts away. So far was the gift whereby 
the Spirit enabled the servants of Christ to speak 
as the oracles of God respecting the Master whom, 


212 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


though “ not having seen, they loved,” from befog 
considered essentially different from that where¬ 
with He had endued the ancient Prophets, that 
the same name is freely applied to it, even when, 
as we have seen, the idea of foretelling is not in¬ 
cluded. 

However decided might be the evidence, that an 
individual was a child of God, and had a gift, an¬ 
other element is ever kept in view as an attestation 
that he is truly commissioned from the Father—the 
power and anointing of the Holy One transfused 
throughout his preaching, and giving it a moral 
effect which ordinary speech, however wise, would 
never carry. “Not in word only,” however true 
and scriptural that word might be, “ but in power, 
and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.” 
“The kingdom of God is not in word, but in 
power.” “ The preaching of the Cross is to them 
that perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved 
it is the power of God.” “My speech and my 
preaching were not with enticing words of man’s 
wisdom, but with demonstration of the Spirit and 
of power, that your faith should not stand in the 
wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” Here 
we see the most highly gifted of the Apostles clearly 
recognizing the fact, that his success as an embassa¬ 
dor to sinful men lay not in the perfectness of his 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 213 


intellectual perceptions, nor in the mode in which 
he presented the truth to the intellectual view of 
those whom he addressed, but in a spiritual element 
of his preaching, as distinct from its intellectual 
characteristics as they were from its physical elocu¬ 
tion, and as necessary, in addition to the intellectual 
presentation of truth, as was the latter in addition 
to a rush of words. Without clear intellectual pre¬ 
sentation of truth, any flow of words would fail to 
convince or to enlighten. Without the spiritual 
power, any exposition or argument would fail to 
awaken or regenerate. The work of Paul was 
nothing short of a commission to “ turn them from 
darkness to light, and from the power of Satan 
unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of 
sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanc¬ 
tified and this he knew would never be effected 
except by “ power and by the Holy Ghost,” work¬ 
ing in and through whatever truth he might utter 
as the bearer of God’s great message. 

Without this call from God, this gift from God, 
and this power from God, no one can be recognized 
as, in the scriptural sense, an embassador from God. 
To dispense with any one of these essentials in the 
qualification of a minister, is to introduce a radical 
change into the institution of the ministry itself, 
and to set it up on a basis for which there is no 
scriptural precedent. These essentials being se- 


214 


THE TONGUE OP FIRE 


cured, the training is varied according to circum¬ 
stances. In the case of the Apostles and the Sev¬ 
enty, after our Lord had called them under the 
promise that He would make them fishers of men, 
He retained them near His own person, continually 
instructing them in the oracles of God, giving them 
the highest example of teaching and of a holy life; 
and this training He continued for three years. 
After the call of St. Paul, we find that three years 
elapsed before He came up to Jerusalem, which 
time he had spent in Arabia and Damascus, in what 
manner we are not informed, but probably in study 
of the Holy Scriptures, tending to give him a fuller 
acquaintance with the revelation of God in Christ. 
It is certain, however, that he was also exercising 
his gifts; for even in Damascus, immediately after 
his conversion, he began to preach. The training 
of Apollos lay first in such light as he received as a 
disciple of John’s baptism, next in the exercise of 
his gifts, and then in the further instruction of 
Aquila and Priscilla. The training of Timothy lay 
in the early teaching of a holy mother and grand¬ 
mother, the ordinary means of grace, study of the 
word of God, and then personal fellowship with the 
Apostle Paul and his fellow-laborers on their jour¬ 
neys and in their toils. Whatever special training 
individuals may have been favored with, that which 
was essential in the training was common to all; 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 215 

namely, instruction in the Holy Scriptures, the ex¬ 
ercise of their gifts in religious assemblies either of 
the Church or of the synagogue, and the gradual 
development of those gifts, until fitness for the 
ministry was clearly proved. 

Whatever value general education may have 
held in the eyes of our blessed Lord, or of the 
anointing Spirit, it is plain that even the Apostles, 
in the height and glory of their Pentecostal preach¬ 
ing, were not gifted with any power which would 
cover the provincial peculiarities of their speech, or 
enable them to conciliate the refined by graceful 
enunciation. The educated ears of the Scribes 
of Jerusalem at once recognized, in the workers of 
miracles and the teachers of an increasing Church, 
“ unlearned and ignorant men.” But, as we noticed 
before, their want of learning related only to mat¬ 
ters of polite education, not to the deep things of 
the word of God, the doctrines, facts, and promises 
of which they were commissioned to expound to 
the world. The general education of Luke and 
Paul was gained with a view to general purposes, 
and turned to* the service of the Church by the 
grace which converted them. 

We now come to the simple question, Are the 
call, the gift, the power, and the training of the 
Christian Minister to continue to the end of time, 


216 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


as to essentials, the same as in the apostolic age ? 
Are we to expect identity, in these particulars, be¬ 
tween the ministry of our day, and that of the first 
century; or, dispensing with this, are we to be 
contented simply with a lineal connection ? To put 
out of sight the scriptural precedents and essentials 
of ministerial qualification, to give up the spiritual 
identity of the ministry, and be satisfied with a 
lineal connection, is a lamentable abandonment of 
the Church’s hope. If she do not obtain for the 
sacred office a succession of meti able to teach, and 
endued with the Holy Ghost, she can not preserve 
to herself, or transmit to future ages, the primitive 
and apostolic ministry. Though all the appendages 
of the office be preserved, if the spiritual essentials 
of the Minister be lost, the pith and sap of the 
ancient tree are gone, though the bark and foliage 
may survive. It is for the Church to see that un¬ 
equivocal signs of grace, and gifts, and fruitfulness, 
mark out every candidate for the sacred office as 
one chosen of the Lord; and not to accept instead 
of these any substitute whatever, whether it be his 
own profession, or some qualifications supposed to 
replace the primitive ones. 

Though no one formally professes that the Chris¬ 
tian ministry has become a totally different institu¬ 
tion from that which Christ founded—different in 
the qualification it requires, in the mode of indue- 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 217 

tion, and in the source and fruit of its efficacy—yet 
all this is assumed in the current writings and 
thoughts of many, and the assumption is wrought 
into the framework and usages of different Churches. 
For a call of God, delivered by the voice of the 
Holy Ghost, in the silence of a believing heart, 
and manifested by earnest efforts'to save souls and 
to promote holy works, a formal commission from 
ecclesiastical authorities is relied upon. Instead 
of a gift from God—a gift of sacred and impress¬ 
ive speech, a “tongue of fire”—we have substi¬ 
tuted a ritual; instead of a scriptural training, a 
high education; and instead of a power from God, 
some substitute intellectualism, and others pro¬ 
priety. 

We are very far from decrying these things in 
their right place. The commission is good and 
needful as the Church’s seal and recognition of the 
Lord’s call, but ridiculous and self-contradictory as 
a substitute for it. Learning is invaluable when 
associated with and adorning gifts from God, but 
lower than pitiable when offered as a substitute for 
the power of opening and enforcing the Divine 
oracles. Propriety, intellectualism, and ritual, have 
their honorable place/; but when, instead of the 
power which penetrates the soul, we have only 
ceremony which fascinates the taste, or talent which 
regales the intellect, then are we fallen from the 


218 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


region of Divine to that of human things, brought 
down from “ the power of God” to “ the wisdom 
of man.” 

For this substitution different classes are to be 
blamed; Church authorities, chiefly for covering 
the want of a call and a gift from God by a com¬ 
mission from man ; and the multitude of professed 
Christians, chiefly for coveting not So much spiritual 
power, as propriety or intellectualism. Did the 
former adhere to the primitive idea of the ministry, 
they would no more commission, as a Minister of 
God, a man who had not given proof, first of sincere 
godliness, and then of ministerial gifts, than would 
any naval Board accredit a man as a pilot who had 
studied navigation and charts, but had never sailed 
the particular channel on which he was to be in¬ 
trusted with valuable lives; or than would any 
medical Board give a surgeon’s diploma to a man 
who had read and heard lectures, but had never 
been in a hospital, or dealt with an actual patient. 
To substitute education for the ministerial gift 
(even when grace is possessed) is, in fact, to set 
aside the question, Is this man called of God ? 
And to substitute it for evidences of grace (even 
when gifts are possessed) is equally to set that 
question aside. True, it may be still retained in 
words; but if that is done, and yet, without proof 
of both gifts and grace, a man be inducted into the 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 219 

ministry upon the simple evidence of education, 
the question is deliberately evaded, and the sin of 
falsifying Christ’s own institution is not mitigated 
by the plea of 'forgetfulness, much less of ignor¬ 
ance ; but, with both knowledge and memory 
of what it originally was, another thing, differing 
from it in the first and most essential qualities, 
is hailed by its name, and invested with its func¬ 
tions. 

To constitute a Christian, three things are neces¬ 
sary—faith, experience, and practice : to constitute 
a Minister, four—faith, experience, practice, and 
gifts. Without experience, knowledge or belief 
can no more qualify a man to teach heart repent¬ 
ance, and heart faith, and heart holiness, than book 
knowledge, whatever might be its amount, would 
qualify a man to train soldiers, if he had never him¬ 
self passed through the process of military disci¬ 
pline. Without gifts, education and experience 
would be together as insufficient a qualification, as 
if a soldier had ammunition and discipline, without 
weapons. 

It is difficult to describe the evil done, when the 
Church overlays the essential qualification and train¬ 
ing of the primitive ministry by exalting substitutes 
for the active power of the Holy Spirit, and when 
she further sets before all men a profession with 
high prizes, the door to which will infallibly be 


220 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


opened by a certain course of education, unless 
they disgrace themselves, and thus allures them to 
make sacred professions from secular motives. On 
each individual who makes such professions without 
due care the guilt of voluntarily sinning must for¬ 
ever lie ; but how far has the Church been his 
tempter, Avhen she makes overtures to him irrespect¬ 
ive of qualifications which are clearly laid down in 
the word of God, as those only which attest the 
Divine sanction and call ? 

It may be asked whether we are to expect that 
in all ages a sufficient number of men will be raised 
up, bearing the primitive marks of a call from God, 
and of gifts from God; and our reply would be, 
simply, Remember the ten days. There we see 
men whose commission had come from the lips of 
the Lord Jesus, whose training had been under His 
own eye, who have forsaken houses, and lands, and 
all that could bind them to secular avocations, who 
are ready to set forth upon the work of calling and 
warning a world that is “ lying in the wicked one 
and yet day after day the inhibition lies upon them, 
that they are to tarry until they are endued with 
power from on high. As we look at that spectacle 
—sinners dying, time rolling on, the Master looking 
down from His newly-ascended throne on the world 
which He has redeemed, seeing death bear away its 
thousands while His servants keep silence—there is 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 22] 


ki that silence a tone which booms through all the 
future, warning us that never, never, under the dis¬ 
pensation of the Spirit, are men to set out upon the 
embassy of Christ, be their qualifications or creden¬ 
tials what they may , until first they have been en¬ 
dued with power from on high, been baptized with 
tongues of fire. Better let the Church wait ever 
so long—better let the ordinances of God’s house 
be without perfunctory actors, and all, feeling sore 
need, be forced to cry with special urgency for 
fresh outpourings and baptisms of the Holy Ghost, 
to raise up holy ministers, than that, by any man¬ 
ner of factitious supply, substitutes should be fur¬ 
nished—substitutes no more ministers of God, than 
coals arranged in a grate are a fire; or than a golden 
candlestick with a wax candle, which flame has 
never touched, is a light. 

If it was the original design of the Lord to with¬ 
draw from the Church the ministerial grace of the 
Spirit, and to leave her to the care of pastors, all 
whose qualifications were natural, or gained by nat¬ 
ural acquisition, all whose authority was derived 
from human commission, without any “manifesta¬ 
tion of the Spirit,” either in gifts or moral power; 
it was clearly His purpose that His religion should 
essentially change its character, after its establish¬ 
ment in the world. This change, also, would be not 
in the directioti of improvement, but of degeneracy; 


222 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


not by progressive increase of communication with 
His redeemed flock, but by progressive increase of 
distance between it and Him; not by bringing 
earthly things nearer to heavenly, but by removing 
them further away. It would imply a design, on 
his part, to reduce the Christian dispensation lower, 
as to ministerial grace, than even the Jewish : for in 
it the prophetic spirit was constantly giving mani * 
festation that there was a God in Israel; not merely 
that there was truth, order, priesthood, a Church, 
but a God, a living Being, high, holy, and wise, 
who dwelt amid the people, and actively moved, 
through His servants, for the instruction, reproof, 
and holiness of all;—“ rising up early and sending” 
messenger after messenger. It would, in fact, im¬ 
ply, that while the dispensation of the Gospel was 
the most favored as to truth, it would be the least 
favored as to tokens of actual intercourse between 
the Saviour and His people: for even the days of 
the patriarchs were lighted with frequent manifesta¬ 
tions of God. It is laid down as the principle of 
our dispensation, that the manifestations of God are 
to be by the operation and gifts of the Holy Spirit 
It is, therefore, consistent Christianity to expect no 
supernatural manifestations but of this kind. But 
is it consistent Christianity, or Christianity of any 
kind, not to expect these at all; not to count upon 
direct gifts from above, upon such wonderful work- 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 223 

ing of the Spirit through the mind and tongue ol 
messengers, as would compel all to feel that their en¬ 
dowments were not from nature only, but were indi¬ 
cative of Divine power ? 

If it be not alleged that the Lord did indeed 
mean to withdraw ministerial grace, in every appre¬ 
ciable and practical form; on what other ground 
can the notion that the ministry is to be supplied by 
candidates, just as any other profession is supplied, 
be rested ? and all that is necessary is, that fathers 
should decide that their sons are to be ministers, 
and not soldiers or lawyers; and should educate 
them; that then, after an examination in general 
knowledge and theology, the candidate shall be in¬ 
vested with an office which professes to be held by 
commission from God ? On what other ground can 
one avoid the conclusion, that the first movement 
toward placing any one in the ministry, should re¬ 
sult from proof given that the Holy Spirit had en¬ 
dued him with pastoral dispositions and pastoral 
gifts; and that every subsequent step in the same 
direction should be taken carefully, after confirma¬ 
tory evidences of the same ? 

It is easy to say that we must not expect such 
clear cases to occur constantly; and must follow 
some definite mode of preparation. Yes, we must 
follow some definite mode; but defined on princi¬ 
ples of faith, not of unbelief. “We must not ex- 


224 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


pect a constant occurrence of clear cases!” On 
what principles must we not ? On those of the 
New Testament, or of modern writers ? On those 
of the Church in the apostolic age, or of subsequent 
and degenerate ages ? On those of Christ’s uncor¬ 
rupted Christianity, or those of fallen Churches? 
On the principle of M I believe in the Holy 
Ghost,” or on the principle of “ I believe only in 
nature ?” 

The definite mode of perpetuating the supply of 
ministers should rest on the sole foundation of the 
Christian faith, rejecting every idea of distrust as 
resolutely as a chemist would reject every idea of 
inconstancy in the affinities of elements ; rejecting 
every idea of substituting other action for that of 
the Holy Spirit as decisively as a gunner would re¬ 
ject the idea of aiding his explosion with mechanical 
force. If we have not the spirit to raise up agents, 
we can not preserve Christ’s Church alive; if we 
have Him, we may fully trust Him to do all that is 
not made to depend on our own fidelity. To doubt 
the supply of summer heat, and to set ourselves to 
rear harvests in hot-beds, would not be doing more 
violence to the laws of the physical kingdom, than 
it is to the laws of the spiritual kingdom to doubt 
the supply of the Spirit whereby laborers fit for the 
field are raised up, and to set ourselves to furnish 
others. 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 225 


Firm in faith, the Church ought to set at the very 
entrance of the pathway toward the ministry, a gate 
which no family influence, no education could open ; 
which none could pass but they whom a number of 
serious and godly men—not ministers alone, but also 
laymen who had to hear, and feed, or starve, ac¬ 
cording to the quality of the ministrations—would 
deliberately conclude were worthy, at least, to be 
admitted to probation for the work of the ministry. 
Such a gate none could pass but one who was either 
in earnest, or a studious and practiced hypocrite. 

Where the primitive training is maintained, all 
the members of the Church exercise such gifts as 
the Spirit has distributed to them—prayer, and ex¬ 
hortation, and teaching, and mutual speaking one to 
another, and admonishing one another. Among the 
working believers of such a scriptural Church, a 
suitable proportion will ever be raised up whose 
gifts will fit them to lead in all the offices. This is 
the real training school for Christian agents ; a fruit¬ 
ful Chnrch is her own nursery. Meetings for fel¬ 
lowship of saints, for free-hearted prayer, for exhort¬ 
ation, are the legitimate means by which they whom 
the Lord is fitting for His high ministry shall be led 
to the development of their gifts. This training 
must be held as indispensable, and of an essential 
importance with which no other training has any 
pretense to claim a comparison ; and then general 
15 


226 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


education must be held to have the same relation to 
the Christian ministry as a general education has to 
any other profession; and theological education the 
same as special education has to the other profes¬ 
sions. 

Classics and mathematics, history and logic, are 
of admirable use to a lawyer; but if, qualified by 
these, he is to attempt to conduct cases without 
having been specially trained in pleading, alas for 
his clients! They are of great use to a physician; 
but if, by their light, and without study of diseases 
and remedies, he undertake to heal, alas for the 
families which put precious life in his trust! To a 
minister their value is quite as great as to either of 
the others; but study of theology is as indispens¬ 
able to him, as study of law or medicine to them ; 
and practical experience of that repentance, faith, 
and holiness which he is to enforce, is as necessary 
as practical treatment of disease in addition to 
study; or as practical acquaintance with a ship at 
sea is needful for a mariner, in addition to the 
science of navigation. 

Were we forced to choose between two men, one 
of whom is an accomplished scholar without prac¬ 
tical godliness, the other a holy and gifted man 
without refined scholarship; to ask us the question, 
which we should prefer for our minister, is about as 
respectful to our faith as Christians, as it would be 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 227 

respectful to the commo'n sense of a ship-owner, 
soberly to ask whether he preferred, as a pilot for 
his ships, a scholar from a nautical academy who 
had never walked a deck, or a rough sailor who had 
often sailed the very waters over which the precious 
freight must he conveyed. Alas for those whose 
souls are watched over by unconverted scholars! 
And even if converted and gifted, the minister of 
Christ should not come to his office without having 
been practiced in prayer, in exhortation, in preach¬ 
ing, in all the art of healing souls, and that not in 
books only, not in schools only, but also in the 
lively meetings and labors of the Church. 

We not only acknowledge, but gratefully believe 
and record, that many of those who had been in¬ 
vested with the ministry without sufficient test of 
their fitness, have, in the event, become burning 
and shining lights. But if this, on the one hand, 
deserves to be continually remembered as a proof 
of God’s tender mercy to His Church, it is, on the 
other hand, not less to be noted, that He has ordi¬ 
narily allowed such unauthorized appointments to 
be followed by their natural consequences, until 
whole nations have come under the curse of a min¬ 
istry who either taught another Gospel than that 
of the Apostles, or who, perfunctorily exhibiting 
the shell of the truth, set the example of denying 
its power; and that even where the Church had 


228 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


been reformed, although primitive Christianity had 
not been generally revived. What England was a 
century ago—what many Protestant Churches on 
the Continent are at this moment, sufficiently shows 
that if guards are not placed at the entrance to the 
ministry, such as will hinder the admission of any 
but spiritually-minded men, the course of Provi¬ 
dence is to allow the sin to work out its own pun¬ 
ishment. 

While ecclesiastical authorities may be justly 
blamed for too readily substituting a Church com¬ 
mission for the genuine call and gift of God, the 
multitude of professed Christians are no less ready 
to accept, instead of the genuine moral power which 
is the true pre-eminence of the Christian minister, 
a substitute in either propriety or intellectualism. 
A people whose idea of the ministry was formed 
by inspirations from the New Testament, *vould 
look and crave, with feelings amounting to hunger 
and thirst, for men “ endued with power”—the 
true power of the Holy Ghost, awakening, con¬ 
verting, edifying power; power under which hearts 
would melt, lives would change, old men would 
put off the evil ways of a lifetime, and youth put 
on the wisdom of gray hairs, thoughtless revelry 
would give place to benevolent associations, and 
the whole neighborhood begin to breathe a purer 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 229 

and a nobler spirit. Nothing could to them com¬ 
pensate for the absence of this. Though all pro¬ 
prieties gratified the taste, though the intellect 
were charmed, yet would they pine and long for 
that power which lies beyond the ken of the eye, 
the taste, or the intellect; but which the moral 
nature at once feels and responds to, either by a 
stern moral resistance, felt to be a resistance to 
the voice of the Spirit, or by contrite acqui¬ 
escence, felt to be the surrender of the heart to 
the constraining love of the Redeemer. 

“Ye shall be endued,” said our Lord, “with 
power from on high”—robed with power. This is 
the true robing and vestment of the minister of 
God—an invisible garment of power, which sits not 
upon his shoulders, but upon his spirit, shading him 
over with a moral dignity, as if he held office from 
the King of kings, and conveying to every con¬ 
science before him the instinctive perception that 
he comes commissioned to deal with it on the 
things that affect its purity, and its relations with 
Him who planted it in man. 

All power is indescribable, but at the same time 
appreciable. What it is, where it is, how it came, 
where it goes, its measure, movement, nature, form, 
or essence, no human skill can discover. We may 
ask the sunbeam which has such power to fly and 
to illuminate, the lightning which has such power 


230 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


to scathe, the dew-drop that has power to refresh, 
the magnet, the fire, the steam, the eye that can 
see, the ear that can hear, the nerve that can con¬ 
vey the messages of will—we may ask all the agents 
we see exerting power to render us an account each 
of its own power, and all will be dumb. Not the 
cannon-ball on its flight, or the lion in his triumph, 
not the tempest or the sea, not even pestilence itself, 
can tell us what is power. If we ask Death who 
has put all things under his feet, even he has no re¬ 
ply ; and after we have passed the question, “ What 
is power ?” round a mute universe, we must say, 
“ God has spoken once, yea, twice have I heard this, 

that POWER BELONGETH UNTO GOD.” 

Yet power, in itself so hidden and indescribable, 
is ever manifest by its effects. An effect demon¬ 
strates the presence of a power. Where gun-powder 
explodes, there must have been fire; where water 
shoots up through the atmosphere in steam, there 
must have been heat; where iron moves without 
mechanical force, a magnet must be; and the ab¬ 
sence of the effect is conclusive evidence of the ab¬ 
sence of the power from which the effect would 
have followed. The intellect at once recognizes the 
presence of intellectual power. The emotions, also, 
faithfully tell whenever an emotional power is 
brought to bear upon them; and no less surely 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 231 

does the conscience of a man feel when a moral 
power comes acting upon it. 

In unconverted men a singular conflict goes on. 
they share the admiration which every man feels for 
moral power—an admiration which none can help 
feeling, even though he he so wedded to his sins 
that he is lashed into enmity when the action of 
such a power makes him fear that, after all, he will 
be converted into a saint; yet this feeling is com¬ 
bated by the natural aversion which men have for 
every thing that crosses their earthly inclinations, 
and tends to lead their affections to holy things. 
On the one hand, they feel that the man who 
preaches to them ought to be able to disturb them 
in their evil ways, as by a voice and a call from 
their Maker; and they are drawn toward him who 
has this character. On the other hand, they desire 
to continue longer in worldly ways; and it is com¬ 
fortable to them, and welcome, when, instead of a 
trumpet peal which would break their slumbers, 
they hear a pleasant song that will help them to 
sleep on. With the great majority these latter feel¬ 
ings prevail, and, according as their own inclinations 
and training lead, they seek in the public ordinances 
of God’s house either what they call an intellectual 
treat, or what they consider a well-performed and 
creditable solemnity. 


232 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


With one class, the highest ideal of a Christian 
service seems to be, that nothing should pass that 
could, by any possibility, offend the taste of any 
human being who might look upon the whole scene 
as an assembly for some dignified purpose. As to 
the pulpit, their great desire is, that the pulpit 
should “ behave itselfand in this country of ours 
many a service may be found which is 

“ Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null.” 

That is, “ faultless” in such eyes—“ faultless,” if the 
idea of a Christian service be not a scene of peni¬ 
tence, fervent prayer, bursting adoration; a triumph 
of spiritual power; an assembly the atmosphere of 
which breathes of living souls and the present Spirit 
of God, of transgressors awakening, and penitents 
finding mercy, and saints standing truly nigh to the 
countenance of their Father; but, instead of all 
this, a number of well-dressed people decorously 
meeting, and celebrating something that affects no 
one, and coolly listening to something not formed 
to affect any one, and, above all, not formed to 
offend any man, except him who wants to feel his 
own soul, and see the souls of his neighbors, moved 
to their depths as by a call from above. 

The sanctuary of God ought, undoubtedly, to be 
the highest scene and model of propriety; the pul¬ 
pit to be its foremost and most shining example. 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 233 

He who, under any pretext, introduces trifling, odd¬ 
ity, or coarseness there, strikes fearfully at a main 
support of power—true reverence. However offens¬ 
ive want of propriety may be elsewhere, it is doubly 
so in the house of God. But the united praying of 
Christians, the delivering of a message from above, 
and the mingling of thankful voices in praise to the 
Most High, like all other peculiar actions, have a 
propriety of their own; and of all improprieties, 
none is more thoroughly alien to them than that, 
be it what it may—whether stiff form or elaborate 
literature—which gives to the place a savor rather 
of the wisdom of man than of the power of God. 
At a marriage-feast the solemnity proper to a fu¬ 
neral would be an impropriety. In a company of 
friends the precision of military movement would 
be improper. The noise of instruments is pro¬ 
priety in a concert, the sound of grinding in a 
mill, the clatter of shuttles in a factory, the ring 
of hammers in a forge, the laughter of children in 
a nursery. 

And so the house of God has its own atmos¬ 
phere ; whatever would extinguish the reverent 
utterance of penitent or grateful emotion on the 
part of the simple and the poor, of the newly 
awakened or newly forgiven—whatever would train 
all Christian feelings to move there, in God’s own 
house and in the assembly of His people, as if under 


234 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


the cold eye of a heathen world, is a more crying 
impropriety than those departures from taste which 
not only might flow, but must flow, from the utter¬ 
ance of feelings, where any multitude, composed of 
all classes, is deeply affected. When the noble idea 
of Christian propriety gives place to the paltry 
idea of properness—when intense reverence and 
love and joy, meeting and stirring the breasts of a 
multitude, are distasted, and men are set on having 
every thing square, well cut, and arranged before¬ 
hand, then we have little right to expect the highest 
of all proprieties—the breaking of sinful hearts as 
if in pieces under the hammer of God’s word, and 
the cry of awakened sinners, “ What must we do 
to be saved ?” In fact, many, who call themselves 
Christians, and whose claim we readily allow, would 
regard the utterance of such a cry in the house of 
God as not less improper than if raised in a theater. 
The people may say, “ Amen,” if it be just by rule ; 
many murmur a response, if just where good men, 
long since dead, marked, “Respond here;” but 
any thing like the pentecostal scene—any general 
outburst of penitent emotion—would be intolerable; 
and even to see a solitary man, “ unlearned and un¬ 
believing,” feeling himself judged and condemned, 
and “ falling down upon his face and worshiping 
God,” would be a disturbance of propriety, for¬ 
sooth, because it would make a fracture in that icy 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 235 


properness wherein a long continuance of cold has 
encased many a branch of Christ’s Church. Yet 
this scene is just as proper to the house of God, as 
the crash of a falling tree is to the forest where the 
woodman is clearing. 

A class very different from those who worship 
properness, set up intellectualism as the substitute 
for power. We are far from wishing, in any way, 
to undervalue that great gift of God, mental power. 
Some measure of this is always implied in the com¬ 
mission to preach the Gospel; and the more of 
sense, pathos, imagination, of any real talent, that 
a Minister may possess, the more is he fitted to 
give his office effect. The talk in which some good 
people indulge as to the great benefit of having 
weak instruments in the ministry, is without a tittle 
of scriptural foundation, the Scriptures being fairly 
applied to the case. 

It is true that, to the wise of this world, the Cross 
in itself is “ foolishnessbut Christ never sent 
fools to be its heralds. The institution of preach¬ 
ing, as the means for regenerating mankind, is in 
itself “ foolishnessbut none of the preachers sent 
of God were simpletons. Though they were de- 
cpised by the great, and were of no account with 
the learned, every one of them was mighty through 
God to strike home to the consciences of sinners, 


236 


THE TONGUE OP FIRE. 


and to confound gainsayers; the evidence of Divine 
power working with them, being all the more con¬ 
spicuous by reason of their natural or educational 
defects. Men who have no gift to teach, warn, or 
exhort, ought to betake themselves to whatever 
honest calling their Maker has fitted them to fulfill, 
and not pule about the Lord delighting to use fool¬ 
ish instruments, while every day proves that He is 
in no way using them , unless it be as an example to 
all not to assume an office without having proved 
their fitness. The men whom God sends may be 
without the accomplishments of scholars, but never 
without sense and utterance. They may be desti¬ 
tute of the talent which would enable them to treat 
secular subjects with oratorial or literary success 
—to allure the fancy, or exhilarate the emotions, 
to satisfy by logic, or illuminate by exposition, but 
never, never without power to act upon the con¬ 
science ; and this, in the absence of other endow¬ 
ments, is often at once the scepter of a preacher’s 
command, and the mysterious seal of his commis¬ 
sion. 

He who speaks to us in the name of our God 
may bring statement as lucid and nervous as that 
of Moses or Matthew, wisdom as racy as that of 
Solomon, pathos as overwhelming as that of Jere¬ 
miah or John, argument as cogent as that of Paul, 
or imagination as gorgeous as that of David or 


PERMANENT benefits to the church. 237 

Isaiah ; any powers, however lofty, may he bring— 
any eloquence, however poetic, refined, or hold; 
only let him make us feel, as we always do under 
the hand of the Prophets and the Apostles, that all 
his powers are put in operation but to bring us 
nearer to our Redeemer. 

Where the notion that the talent employed in 
Christian preaching ought to lie within a limited 
and humble range, without any high flights, any 
deep soundings, any glowing language, any meta¬ 
phorical illustrations, or any masculine argument, 
can have originated, one would be at a loss to learn, 
were the Bible alone—Old Testament and New— 
the source of our information. There we see the 
power of the Holy Spirit, not allying itself with one 
order of mind, or with one stamp of composition, 
tamed down to a standard of properness, conse¬ 
crated by the aesthetics of some small and proper 
men, but using every faculty that God ever gave to 
the human soul—every faculty of thought, illustra¬ 
tion, and speech—hallowing by its fire all genius, 
all life, and all nature, touching every thing and 
illuminating every thing; so that there is not one 
scene of domestic life, and not one object of God’s 
outer world, to which the tongue of Psalmist or 
Prophet, or the Great Teacher Himself, has not 
given a voice, and made it speak to us in sacred 
poetry. From the grass beneath the mower’s 


238 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


scythe, or the lily that a child has plucked—from 
the bridegroom’s beaming face, or nursing mo¬ 
ther’s bosom—up to the lightning, the sun, and 
the stars, every thing is hallowed by a ray from 
the Bible, and is hung round by its sacred associa¬ 
tions. 

We can not but believe that this is the inten¬ 
tional model, and that men of all orders, with 
talent of every possible shade, are meant to be 
employed in God’s holy ministry; and that, there¬ 
fore, any narrower view, founded either upon the 
ideal of some prominent example in one class of 
preaching, on the taste of a given age, or on any 
notion whatever of classic style and propriety, is 
but an invention to cramp and trammel that which 
must everlastingly be free—the utterance of men 
who come to speak to us of all things infinite. 

On the other hand, that which now-a-days is 
called intellectualism does not appear so much to 
lie in the possession and exercise of superior powers, 
as in the art of casting common things in elaborate 
molds, and robing every familiar truth, which, in a 
plain garb, all would recognize as an old friend, in 
such array thab those who do not look closely may 
take it for a distinguished stranger. It is true that 
thoughts which outgrow the ordinary stature will 
naturally drape themselves nobly; but all haze, or 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 239 

extravagance, in the style of wise men, will be in 
spite of themselves. They will ever use their best 
endeavors, first to clear their ideas in their own 
minds, and then to render them clear to others. 
Often they will expend much labor in reducing 
what gushed from their pregnant thoughts, from 
its original splendor to something more simple and 
perspicuous, something perhaps less calculated to 
dazzle, but more calculated to enlighten. 

Some intellects are, among ordinary ones, what 
a hothouse is in a garden—a special shrine which 
receives the beams of heaven, through a medium 
of crystal, into an atmosphere of high temperature, 
within which bloom fruits and flowers that would 
not grow in the ordinary ground ; fruits and flow¬ 
ers from brighter lands, and wondrous in our eyes, 
which, however, though at first nursed there, may, 
in time, be naturalized, and become familiar beau¬ 
ties in the homesteads of thousands. It is mani¬ 
festly the will of Providence to create such intel¬ 
lects; and even had we not the Bible to throw 
light on His design, it would certainly seem vio¬ 
lently improbable that He should create them only 
to fringe with flowers the world’s broad and down¬ 
ward way. Some men always treat richness of 
style as if it were the result of effort; just as if 
deal, which always owes its color to art, were to 
say to mahogany, or maple, or rosewood, “What 


240 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


labor it must have been to produce all these shad¬ 
ings !” No labor whatever; it is all in the grain. 

At the same time the intellectualism of our day 
is something so entirely apart from the exercise of 
power of mind, that it seems to us more like an at¬ 
tempt to invent great intellects, than like an honest 
endeavor to put out to the best account such in¬ 
tellect as God has given. The use of factitious 
power is to make common things loom up in misty 
grandeur, and the use of real power is to make 
strong, new, rare, or vast conceptions clear to the 
ordinary eye, or to bring what appeared cold in¬ 
tellectual abstractions home to the common heart 
If viewed only as a specimen of natural power, how 
wonderful the effect of that one stroke by which 
the simplest man in Chistendom, from the time of 
our Lord down to this day, has been enabled to 
see in the fair drapery of a lily a pledge of provi¬ 
dential care for his clothing, and to hear, in the 
glee-chirp of a sparrow, a pledge of the same care 
in feeding him and his children! Whatever is used 
with a view to clear Divine trnth to men’s con¬ 
ceptions, to enforce Divine law on the conscience, 
or to commend Divine love to their hearts, that 
will the Spirit work with and quicken; but what¬ 
ever is used merely to excite surprise or admiration 
at the powers of the speaker, must be forsaken by 
that sacred Power which moves, never to glorify 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 241 

one man in the eye of another, but to reveal the 
things of God to His wandering creatures. 

It is very probable that not a few deceive them¬ 
selves by Burke’s idea of sublimity, to the effect 
that a clear idea is but another name for a little 
idea; a notion which he supports by quoting the 
vision of Eliphaz, and ascribing the sense of the 
sublime which that description at once conveys, to 
the haze and mystery wherewith the subject is in¬ 
vested. But he loses sight of the cardinal fact, 
that the mystery lies not in the medium, but in the 
object. In language clear as the light of heaven, 
that object is presented to the mind; and, gazing 
through that pure and illuminated medium, we see 
what can be seen of the object. That is only 
enough to tell us that it is no ordinary thing, but 
some mysterious being, an index of a whole world 
of invisible spirits: and this it is which carries with 
it the idea of the awful and infinite, and, therefore, 
of the sublime. Had he said that complete com¬ 
prehension in our mind argued a finite object, he 
would undoubtedly have been correct; but, in or¬ 
der that our impression of the infinity of an object 
may be deep, some token of infinity must be clear. 

Let those, then, who would wield a power over 
us present to our minds objects so great, if they 
will, that we can only catch a glimpse of some lower 
or hinder part, but let that glimpse be such as to 
16 


242 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


convey to us - an intimation of the whole as clearly 
as any stray flash of morning light carries with it 
the whole idea of sun and sky. Let their great 
thoughts be robed in any language, however simple, 
or however gorgeous, provided only that it be 
clear, that the medium obscure not our view of the 
object to be seen, and so confuse our sense either 
of its nature or dimensions; and provided also it be 
plain, that their ruling idea is not a literary but a 
religious one, not to “ acquit themselves well,” and 
please their audience, but to produce instant and 
tasting religious impressions. Let them bring before 
our souls the heights, the depths, the lengths, the 
breadths of God’s revealed glories; and, whether 
they be plain in style as the homeliest peasant who 
passes our door, without one poetic idea in his 
mind, or one poetic phrase in his vocabulary, ex¬ 
cept those that his Bible has given to him—and 
many such plain men will ever be employed in the 
most eminent and glorious works of God—or 
whether all their expressions have the glow of 
sunerhuman fervor, or the luster of superhuman 
imagination, rivaling, in its wealth of imagery, in 
its purple, its scarlet, its gold, its precious stones, * 
its frankincense, and its myrrh, the Prophets of 
old, they will produce upon us healthy effects, will 
feed our spirits with angels’ food, or enamor oui 
contemplations with God’s providence, His work of 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 243 

grace, or His eternal mansions provided for those 
who love Him. 

We repeat it, that it is not from any peculiar 
style, whether it be extreme plainness, or high 
elaboration, or what else, that we expect the minis¬ 
try to acquire a world-renewing power. Let the 
style be ruled by every man’s natural endowments; 
but, whatever these be, let them all be employed in 
the one direction of carrying out an embassy from 
God to the souls of sinful men. The greater the 
variety of talent and of style, the more will the 
pulpit be like the Bible—the more effectually will 
its work be done; but let no form of talent be ever 
accepted instead of power. For we must have 
power—power which the godly will welcome as 
meet to minister grace to the hearers—power which 
the ungodly will fear as certain to make them un¬ 
comfortable in their sins, or else force them to 
harden their hearts, as if they were refusing the 
voice of God. 

Take away from the minister spiritual power, and, 
though you give us the fairest deportment, the 
richest eloquence, the most subtle and fascinating 
speculation, you leave us without any sense that we 
are hearkening to a man of God. Did the multi¬ 
tudes of the Christian Church only set a due esti¬ 
mate upon this, and rank propriety and intellectual- 
ism in their proper place, the idea that a man could 


*44 the tongue of fire. 

pass creditably as a minister merely by carefully 
performing a ceremony, or by weaving webs of 
iurious and cunning language, would be as far from 
men’s minds as is now the idea that one can obtain 
credit as a soldier without courage, as a painter 
without skill of hand, or as a musician without an 
instinct of tune. 

The lowest effect (for less is no effect at all, or a 
negative one) which a Christian minister can pro¬ 
duce, is merely to please his audience; next to that 
ranks astonishing them: for both of these effects 
terminate in himself; and when a certain amount 
of admiration has been expended upon him, the 
whole harvest of his labor is reaped—a poor and 
scanty harvest, sufficing only to pass over the pres¬ 
ent hour, but yielding no seed for future sowing, no 
store for time to come. The creature who covets 
and earns the reward of being counted “ an accepta¬ 
ble preacher”—a miserable praise, fit only for an 
impotent and soulless discourser—but shakes no 
sinner’s heart, brings back to no father’s arms a 
prodigal son, cheers no mother’s soul by the con¬ 
version of her children, nor ever makes a believer 
feel that his preaching has formed anew and happy 
era in his spiritual life, may spin fine paragraphs for 
the winding-sheet of souls that are dying under his 
hands; may perform over dead souls the solemni¬ 
ties of “ Christian burialbut when the body dies 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 245 

too, and then when the trumpet sounds, and the 
graves are opened, what reward will crown his 
resurrection ? 

As no variety of talent is effectual for the ends 
of the ministry without spiritual power, so, when 
accompanied by that power, every form of talent 
is. The refined are ready to demand a certain 
chastened style, in which, above all things, there 
shall be no extravagance cither in composition or in 
delivery. On the other hand, the poor are slow to 
recognize power unless it be accompanied by strength 
of voice and physical vehemence. Some will admit 
of little value in what is only exhortational or 
declamatory; others, again, can not imagine that 
close argument, though it may enlighten, shall ever 
awaken or convert: and thus most persons are in 
danger of forming a narrow ideal circle, within 
which they would have the Spirit to co-operate 
with the agency of man. 

We are often told with great earnestness what is 
the best style for preaching; but the fact is, that 
what would be the very best style for one man 
would perhaps be the worst possible for another 
In the most fervid declamation, the deepest prin¬ 
ciples may be stated and pressed home; in the 
calmest and most logical reasoning, powerful motives 
may be forced close upon the feelings; in discussing 
come general principle, precious portions of the text 


246 


THE TONGUE OP PIEE. 


of Scripture may be elucidated ; and in simple ex¬ 
position, general principles may be effectively set 
forth. Let but the powers given to any man play 
with their full force, aided by all the stores of 
Divine knowledge which continuous acquisitions 
from its fountain and its purest channels can obtain 
for him, the fire being present—the fire of the 
Spirit’s power and influence—spiritual effects will 
result. 

The discussion about style amounts very much 
to a discussion whether the rifle, the carbine, the 
pistol, or the cannon, is the best weapon. Each is 
best in its place. The great point is, that every 
one shall use the weapon best suited to him, that 
he charge it well, and see that it is in a condition 
to strike fire. The criticisms which we often hear 
amount to this: We admit that such-an-one is a 
good exhortational preacher, or a good doctrinal 
preacher, or a good practical preacher, or a good 
expository preacher; but because he has not the 
qualities of another—qualities, perhaps, the very 
opposite of his own—we think lightly of him. 
That is, we admit that the carbine is a good 
carbine ; but because it is not a rifle, we condemn 
it; and because the rifle is not a cannon, we con¬ 
demn it. 

Nothing can more directly tend to w r aste of 
power, than the attempt to divert the mind from 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 247 

/ts natural course of action into one for which it is 
unfitted. Instead of resorting to this with the idea 
of forming all after some pre-conceived model, it 
would be better to teach all to recognize in the 
variety of individual character another proof of the 
manifold wisdom of God. 

Sometimes it is remarkable how small an amount 
of intellectual or literary power is combined with 
considerable, or even commanding, spiritual power. 
A man who by natural talent would impress an 
audience less than most men, yet by the superior 
unction of the Spirit may produce religious impres¬ 
sions, and raise up religious fruit, such as wiser and 
greater men might envy. Possessing this, his other 
defects are of comparatively little importance. A 
general may have many defects in his character, 
temper, and habits, without losing command over 
his men: but if his defects be unsoldierly—if, above 
all, he lacks courage, then inevitably does his con¬ 
trol over them decline. So a statesman may have 
a thousand defects not directly affecting statesman¬ 
ship, and yet retain his ascendancy over the mind 
of the nation ; but let him show a lack of political 
sagacity, and at once his ascendancy is gone. So 
if a Minister of the Gospel be justly described as 
« drythat is, if he give godly and candid hearers 
the impression that he habitually delivers Divine 
truths without any unction which either moves his 


248 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


own soul, or those of others; the fault is fatal. It 
is what cowardice is in a soldier, folly in a states¬ 
man, or lameness in a runner. The hold of such 
an one upon the conscience must hopelessly pass 
away. Rather let us have the man of humblest 
talent, or of plainest education, who can speak to 
us a word at which the soul within us thrills, than 
one who possesses no such power, though he can 
wrestle with every prejudice, or excite and fascinate 
every faculty. 

The power of which we speak being neither 
more nor less than the co-operation of the Holy 
Spirit with the preacher, that which is essential to 
its presence must lie, first, in the state of the 
preacher’s heart; secondly, in the staple of his dis¬ 
course. There must be a soul itself in communion 
with the Holy One, and there must be rays of truth 
—God’s own truth radiated from that soul to 
others, along which the Spirit’s secret influence 
may be communicated from heart to heart. The 
preacher must first imbibe the Divine fire, and then 
hold it in his heart, as a Leyden jar will hold the 
invisible electricity; and, this done, he must have 
a conductor to communicate it to those who are be¬ 
fore him. Unless the truth of God be uttered, and 
aimed in the right direction, aimed at the auditory, 
at their Conscience, whether through the avenue of 
the imagination, the understanding, or the emo 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 249 

tions, even had he himself the power of the Spirit, 
he could not convey it to others. There is but one 
conductor, and that is the Word of Life. 

Suppose that a person wishing to send a message 
from London to Edinburg by lightning, knows 
how to construct an electric battery ; but when he 
comes to consider how he will transmit the impulse 
through hundreds of miles, he looks at an iron wire, 
and says, “ This is dull, senseless, cold, has no sym¬ 
pathy with light; it is unnatural, in fact, irrational, 
to imagine that this dark thing can convey a light¬ 
ning message in a moment.” From this he turns 
and looks at a prism. It glows with the many- 
colored sunbeam. He might say, “This is sym¬ 
pathetic with light,” and in its flashing imagine that 
he saw proof that his message would speed through 
it; but when he puts it to the experiment, it proves 
that the shining prism will convey no touch of his 
silent fire, but that the dull iron will transmit it to 
the furthest end of the land. And so with God’s 
holy truth. It alone is adapted to carry into the 
soul of man the secret fire which writes before the 
inner eye of the soul a message from the unseen 
One in the skies. Other proposed conductors may 
flash more in the showy light, but they will not 
convey the invisible fire. 

Again we repeat, that this fire mav be c ombined 


250 


THE TONGUE OE FIRE. 


with any form of talent, and with any style of com¬ 
position. Who has not seen a tranquil man, whose 
tones seldom rose to passion, and never went 
beyond the severest taste ; whose thought, de¬ 
meanor, phrases, all breathed a gentle and quiet 
spirit; and yet, with the placid flow of instruction 
or exposition, a heavenly influence silently stole 
along, stole into the veins of the heart, diffusing a 
sacred glow, a desire to be holier, a sense of near¬ 
ness to God, a refreshing of all the good principles 
within you, a check and a restraint on all the evil ? 
Again, you have seen a man who begins by some 
calm argument, passes to another point, closely 
reasoned, which again leads him to another well- 
pointed stroke at some error or prejudice; no by 
play of imagination, no home-thrust to your heart, 
but one steady grapple with your intellect—a dis 
course which would be pronounced u dry,” were it 
not for a mysterious power which accompanies it, 
not in the sentences, not in the syllogisms, not in 
the action, not in the tones, but a spirit infused 
through it all, that makes reasoning turn into a 
spiritual power, and seems to put God’s law into 
your mind, and, at the same time, to write it upon 
your heart. Again, you see a man who at once 
begins with pictures, and from history, from nature, 
from the Bible, from science, he strikes up before 
you a succession of bewitching or affecting scenes, 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 251 

playing with your fancy all the while as a poet 
might play with it; and yet every picture carries 
some sacred impulse to your soul, and leaves a 
moral lesson and moral strength behind. Another 
man moves simply on in a straightforward state¬ 
ment of some great doctrine, opening out its 
various branches, defining, setting guards upon his 
definition, shading from possible misconception, 
setting up fine distinctions, and seegiing occupied 
principally with putting a truth into a compact and 
portable shape in your mind; but somehow this 
one truth, which he thus explains and defines, rouses 
within your breast the voices of all other truths, 
and evokes an appeal from every sacred thing you 
ever knew in favor of holy living. Another as¬ 
sumes that you know all that need be known ; and, 
seizing upon the truths that are within you, upon 
your conscience with its light, upon your fear, or 
hope, or love, on your instinct of self-preservation, 
or on some other of the deathless principles of your 
nature, he pours upon you a succession of fervid 
declamation, exhorting you to that which is right; 
giving nothing to enlarge your knowledge, nothing 
to feed or even to exercise your reasoning powers, 
nothing to enrich the stores of your fancy, or to 
perfect your conceptions of truth; and yet his 
declamation brings a holy power which commands 
you more than the might of strong-minded men; 


252 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


and good resolutions and hopes that have often 
been vanquished in days gone by, rise up again at 
the voice of this simple man, and you follow him to 
the feet of the Saviour. 

Come, then, with what voice thou wilt come, thou 
power-clad messenger of my Redeemer! Come 
with thunder on thy tongue, or with a sweet “ harp 
of ten stringscome to us simple as a little child, 
or wise as a scribe instructed of God; but, O ! let 
us only feel that fire in thy message which lies not 
in sentences, nor in tones, but in a heart itself in¬ 
flamed from above, and pouring fire into our hearts! 

Just as we find all these types of men imbued 
with Divine power, so do we find every one of them 
destitute of it. You have the gentle man, far away 
from any thing extravagant, never bringing upon 
himself one word of blame, or giving to his audi¬ 
tory one feeling of trouble; but, O! how drearily 
years and years pass over him!—precious years, yet 
no souls are converted, no flocks grow larger; the 
field where he labors is never white unto the har¬ 
vest, and it is always sowing time with him ! Very 
probably he is content with this, and will tell you 
that in his sphere, though there is nothing extra¬ 
ordinary going forward, things are encouraging. 
Placidly does he pass on, although he knows well, 
and all who mark his course know well, that for 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 253 

long, long years it would be hard to say what spir¬ 
itual life has flourished under his hand. So, again, 
you may find the reasoner, clear, cogent, and forc¬ 
ible, enlisting you on his side, perhaps exciting you 
against every thing which opposes his system; but 
no sinners are turned into saints by his reasoning ; 
yet he reposes well pleased upon the miserable re¬ 
sult of having argued his point ably—an advocate 
who has shown the jury that he is a master of law, 
but has lost his client’s life. And you may find the 
expositor, who will open up paragraph after para¬ 
graph with rare subtlety of analysis, while his audi¬ 
tory learn something of the Word of God, and so 
far become more prepared to be good Christians, if 
once converted; but with his exposition no con¬ 
verting power ever comes: perhaps, indeed, he does 
not think that it is his calling to convert sinners. 
You may also find the man of imagination, who 
plays brilliantly upon the various instruments of na¬ 
ture and science. His auditory are dazzled, per¬ 
haps enraptured ; but who among them goes home 
to his closet to seek his Saviour, or rises up in after 
life to bless the preacher ? He was sent to fight, 
but he played off fireworks before the enemy, and, 
instead of flying or falling, they only said, “ How 
grand !” The declaimer you may hear, too, whose 
exhortations run apparently to the one point of pro¬ 
ducing a practical result; you have vociferation, 


254 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


and the swell and throe of great vehemence; but 
it is like the hollow report of a cannon without 
shot. 

This absence of pbwer is sometimes so clear that 
the soul that has come to the house of God seeking 
bread, painfully feels that it is getting but a stone; 
and never is that feeling so painful as when all that 
ought to attend upon spiritual power is there—the 
truth, well understood and well stated—all the lin¬ 
eaments and outward form that would lead us to 
expect life; but, when we draw near, there is no 
breath in it. Sometimes one may see that this soul¬ 
less thing is not a wax figure which never breathed, 
but a corpse from which the life has gone. The 
truths, now uttered with such impotence, once 
thrilled through men as they fell from those lips ; 
the appeals which now grate, like a chime of cracked 
bells, once carried multitudes before them. In days 
gone by many rose up to bless this man as a mes¬ 
senger of God; to-day his words are as a tale twice 
told. Perhaps, conscious of the loss of the real 
power, he endeavors to compensate for it by a 
greater fofce of physical oratory, spurring himself 
to impetuosity, or swelling to lofty and solemn im¬ 
pressiveness ; but it is only as when a ship in a calm 
makes her sails bulge by rolling; they flap and rus¬ 
tle, but there is no strength in them, as when filled 
by the silent wind they bore the vessel onward. 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 255 

Every one of the effects flowing from the opera- 
tion'of spiritual power in the ministry is indescrib¬ 
ably precious; and it must be grievous to God, as 
it is manifestly injurious to man, to underrate any 
kind of fruit. One professes to be so bent on attain¬ 
ing progress in the spiritual life, that preaching 
which is effectual only to the conversion of sinners, 
* is to him elementary and poor. Another is so ex¬ 
clusively occupied with the dark condition of the 
unsaved, that preaching which tends only to ripen 
the holiness of those already converted, is to him 
beside the mark. One specially looks for preaching 
which will tell upon the young; and another for 
what will content men of years and experience. 
But every one ought to learn that each variety of 
usefulness is far too estimable to be lightly dealt 
with. He who is in any way used as an instrument 
to benefit the souls of any of my fellow-pilgrims 
here, ought to be cherished by my heart as a pre¬ 
cious friend of my own. 

Where real spiritual power exists, it will not be 
wholly confined to one class of effects. He who 
leads on believers to brighter holiness^ will surely 
lead sinners to see somewhat of the sinfulness of 
their sins; and he who is the means of turning a 
sinner from the error of his ways, is the means, in 
that very act, of aiding the progress of all those 
around him: for each one detached from the world 


256 


THE TONGUE OP FIRE. 


and ranked on the side of godliness, becomes a help 
to the general cause of Christianity in the land. 

In our own age and nation, we feel no hesitation 
in saying, that the particular form of spiritual power 
for which we have most crying need, is that where¬ 
by men who know the truth are brought to the 
point of deciding for God, and setting out in earn¬ 
est on the way to heaven. We are in danger of 
laboring as if the ground still needed to be sown ; 
while the fields are white unto the harvest, and need 
but a reaper. We are in danger of preaching as if 
the people were either all serving God, or were all 
so far away from the possibility of being converted 
soon, that they must be approached as from a dis¬ 
tance, and principles laid down and left to work 
which may bring forth fruit after some long time. 
Whereas the fact is, that everywhere the ground is 
sown. We meet with comparatively few men in 
whose minds there is not enough of truth to awaken 
their conscience and point them toward the Cross, 
were that truth only brought home to their hearts 
with power. Men fitted as instruments to use what 
the people believe and know, in order to bring them 
to a decision for God, are those whom the interests 
of our generation most loudly call for. Taught by 
Christianity, but led captive by sin, men are going 
downward by thousands and tens of thousands—at 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 2 51 

once in the light and in the dark, knowing their 
Master’s will, hut doing it not—downward to the 
punishment of many stripes. He, then, who can 
bring those multitudes to stop and think, to feel 
what they believe, to act on what they feel, to cry, 
“ Lord, save me, I perish,” he is most distinguished 
and most blessed of all the servants whom the Mas¬ 
ter honoreth. 

To heal the leper, to open the eyes of the blind, 
to make the lame walk, and the paralytic strong, 
were great and blessed works; but all these suf¬ 
ferers were living men ; and great as was the work 
of healing them, to raise the dead was greater far. 
Blessed are ye among men, whom our Lord and 
Master honors to help or heal, or restore any of 
those souls which are living, but not in perfect 
soundness; but trebly blessed art thou, my brother, 
whose joyful lot it is to stretch thy soul over a soul 
that is dead, as Elisha stretched himself over the 
dead son of the Shunamite, and to raise it up 
breathing and calling upon God! O for a thou¬ 
sand men imbued w 7 ith converting power! Bet¬ 
ter they than ten thousand times the number, 
however gifted, however learned, however pleas¬ 
ing, who are destitute of that crowning grace of 
the messenger of God! 

Our Lord said, “ He that believeth on Me, the 

works that I do shall he do also; yea, and greater 
17 


258 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


works than these shall he do, because I go to My 
Father.” By “ greater works” He could not mean 
more wonderful miracles ; for the wonders wrought 
by His own hands had reached the limits of pos- 
sibility. Greater miracles than raising the dead, 
and making the winds and the seas obey Him, were 
not to be performed. Besides, the “ greater works” 
to be done are shown to have some special charac¬ 
ter from this, that they are to exist in connection 
with a new order of things, “ Because I go to My 
Father.” We are at no loss as to that which was 
specially dependent on His ascension. It was the 
baptism of the Holy Spirit. And we may therefore 
reasonably conclude, that the “greater work” than 
all the other works which could be done, was that 
work which He Himself from heaven announced to 
His servant Paul, as the purpose of his mission, 
“ To open their eyes, and to turn them from dark¬ 
ness to light, and from the power of Satan unto 
God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and 
inheritance among them which are sanctified by 
faith that is in Me.” This was the end of His 
own life and death, this was the crown of His own 
glory: “Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He 
shall save His people from their sins” Only in 
men actually saved from their sins did His soul, 
afflicted and smitten, foresee the fruit of its travail, 
wherewith it should be satisfied. Only in men 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 259 

actually saved from their sins while in the flesh, 
while surrounded by temptation, could He foresee 
the possibility of glorifying His Father upon earth, 
by His own branches bearing much fruit, by His 
own life, “ the life of Christ, being manifest in mor¬ 
tal bodies.” Only by this could He see that which 
he so dearly purchased, a holy Church formed out 
of Adam’s fallen sons. Only by this could His own 
especial joy, the joy set before Him, the joy of 
“bringing many sons to glory,” ever be secured. 
To this one result His whole work pointed; upon 
this all the interests of His kingdom turned. 

No glory of the Eternal One is higher than this, 
“Mighty to save;” no name of Godhead more 
adorable than that of “ Saviour ;” no place among 
the servants of God can be so glorious as that of 
an instrument of salvation. “He that winneth 
souls is wise.” “They that turn many to right¬ 
eousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever.” 
Under the new dispensation, the Lord’s messengers, 
abundantly replenished with the Spirit, having the 
Cross for their theme and the baptism of fire for 
their impulse, were to go forth as men with whom 
God would work, and would accompany His word 
with signs following it. It was great to cast out 
devils from the body; it is greater to cast them out 
of souls and out of society. It was great to heal 
the sick or to feed the poor ; it is greater to - heal 


260 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


the sources of disease and want, by turning sinful 
hearts to purity. He around whom are continually 
springing up new converts from sin to holiness—he, 
the sound of whose voice many bless as having been 
to them the trump of God, who at the great day 
will have for his crown of rejoicing tens, or hun¬ 
dreds, or thousands, to whom many others were 
“ teachers,” but only he a “ father”—he rises to 
such joy and dignity that he may look back upon 
the best and most honored of God’s ancient serv¬ 
ants, and feel that, in comparison with them, he has 
only to be thankful for his own more blessed lot. 
He need not envy Moses his rod, or David his harp, 
or Elijah his mantle, or Solomon his wisdom; for 
his own crown and his own prize are the highest to 
which man may aspire. How close the servant is 
brought to the Master! The Master is Saviour, 
the servant the instrument of saving! 

When we speak of ministerial power, we are 
never to be understood as implying that any amount 
of power in the minister will necessarily subdue his 
hearers. What may be fully relied upon as the re¬ 
sult of power dwelling in the minister, is that he 
will make every hearer feel that a spiritual power is 
grappling with him, and bringing him either to 
yield to the voice that warns him, or to set up a 
conscious resistance. “ Almost thou persuadest me,” 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 261 


is the language of one who can scarcely prevent 
himself from yielding to the force that is impelling 
him toward Christ. Felix trembled, and said, “ Go 
thy way for this time; when I have a conven¬ 
ient season, I will call for thee.” Here is a man 
consciously under the impulse of a power which is 
urging him to a result that he dreads; and, to es¬ 
cape its influence, he adopts the ordinary plan of 
“ putting off for a while.” But the very awaken¬ 
ing of this conscious resistance, the setting-up of 
this struggle in the breasts of men, is in itself a 
prooi* of power; and he who can do this, although 
he will have his Agrippas and his Felixes over whom 
to mourn, will undoubtedly have numbers of others 
over whom to rejoice. 

A farmer who all his life-time has been sowing, 
but never brought one shock of corn safe home; a 
gardener who has ever been pruning and training, 
but never brought one basket of fruit away: a mer¬ 
chant who has been trading all his life, but never 
concluded one year with clear profit; a lawyer who 
has had intrusted to him, for years and years, the 
most important causes, and has never carried one; 
the doctor who has been consulted by thousands in 
disease, and has never brought one patient back to 
health; the philosopher who has been propounding 
principles all his life, and attempting experiments 
every day, but has never once succeeded in a de- 


262 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


monstration;—all these would be abashed and hu¬ 
miliated men. They would walk through the world 
with their heads low, they would acknowledge 
themselves to be abortions, they would not dare to 
look up among those of their own professions; and 
as for others regarding them with respect, pity 
would be all they could give. Yet, alas! are there 
not cases to be found wherein men whose calling it 
is to heal souls, pass years and years, and seldom, if 
ever, can any fruit of their labors be seen? Yet 
they hold up their heads, and have good reasons to 
give why they are not useful; and those reasons 
generally lie, not in themselves, but somewhere 
else—in the age, the neighborhood, the agitation or 
the apathy, the ignorance or the over-education, the 
want of Gospel light or the commonness of Gospel 
light, or some other reason why the majority of 
those who hear them continue unconverted, and 
why they should look on in repose, without smiting 
upon their breasts, and crying day and night to 
God to breathe a power upon them whereby they 
might awaken those that sleep. Probably they 
have wise things to say about the undesirableness 
of being too anxious about fruit, and about the ad¬ 
vantage of the work going on steadily and slowly, 
rather than seeking for an excitement, and a rush 
of converts. But while they are thus dozing, sin¬ 
ners are going to hell. 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 263 

It is pitiable to see a minister who has all his life, 
when judged by the fruit of his labor, been destitute 
of the power of the Spirit; but there is something 
even more touching to see, as, alas! sometimes we 
do see—one who in his early days had truly a gift 
of God in him, becoming weak,. like other men, 
without unction, and without fruit. The gift, not 
stirred up, has passed away; the power, not re¬ 
newed and renewed again by fresh supplies, has for¬ 
saken him. Perhaps, desirous of more efficiency, he 
has heaped up knowledge—not too much knowl¬ 
edge, for none can have too much; but he has not 
maintained a due proportion between his acquisi¬ 
tions of knowledge and his acquisition of spiritual 
power. He is like one who would pour coals upon 
a feeble fire with the idea of making a great one, 
until the few live coals were smothered under a 
black mass. Perhaps another has gone just to the 
opposite extreme; and, fearing to damp his lively 
fire, has allowed it to flame on, without constantly 
feeding it with truth, and knowledge, and experi¬ 
ence, and thought; and his fire has burned out. 
Perhaps another, beginning to distrust his simple 
weapon, which had no adornments, and could only 
strike right home, has got for himself a jeweled 
sword with a golden blade, but finds that the edge 
is turned by the least resistance. Perhaps another, 
who used to thunder as a second Baptist, and make 


264 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


the truths of the eternal law, of the resurrection, of 
judgment, and of the world to come, ring in the 
ears of slumbering souls with a supernatural and 
awakening power, begins to desire something more 
alluring, less distressing to the sensitive, more ac¬ 
ceptable to the sedate, more “ attractive,” as the 
phrase is; and now you may find him an absurd 
combination of strength and feebleness—a gunner 
working heavy guns, but with silver barrels, and 
scented powder, and balls of frozen honey. 

In the progress of a man’s life it will often 
happen that great variations appear in his useful¬ 
ness; but, if he walk with God, maintain his in¬ 
tegrity, and make steady progress in knowledge 
and in faith, although the form of his usefulness 
may change, it will never change into uselessness. 
When the flush and glow of youthful ardor disap¬ 
pear, they will be replaced, not by vapidness or 
tameness, but by more of the unction that elevates 
and hallows. There is a law of mechanics, the 
moral counterpart of which we see in such men, 
that what is lost in velocity is gained in power. 
And yet such men, though they may be blessed 
with great usefulness, if they-see not conversions 
such as rejoiced their earlier days, will ever look 
back with yearning and humiliation. Never will 
they fail to honor, above all their brethren, those 
whom God honors by making them the instruments 


PEBMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHTJBCH. 265 


of many conversions, or to covet, with a coveting 
more eager than they could feel for any other dis¬ 
tinction, or joy, or gift, the restoration to them of 
the power to persuade sinners to be reconciled to 
God. 

A more pitiable thing can not be than to see a 
man who, himself destitute of ministerial power, 
not only is unconscious how miserable a creature 
he is, but is even ready to make light of the useful¬ 
ness of others ; and, in his ordinary conversation, to 
set down those whom the Lord honors as the in¬ 
struments of converting sinners, below what he 
calls “ intellectual” men, fine soliloquizers, or curi¬ 
ous speculators, who deal out dainties from the pul¬ 
pit, but do no work that will live when they are 
dead. This style of depreciating the useful and the 
earnest, painful in any one, becomes appalling when 
it falls from the lips of a man who at one stage of 
his own life was remarkably useful, but who has lost 
his fire; and who, instead of mourning, and seeking 
to recover it, can even make light of those who 
have retained theirs. •“ It is not hard to convert 
servant-maids,” and such depreciating expressions, 
may lightly drop from an unthinking lip, but they 
will affect hearers, and will be remembered in the 
great day; and how differently will the two men 
appear—the one whose humble labor has been the 
means of converting servant-maids, and the one 


266 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


whose envy and whose wit were vented in making 
light of the work ! 

O, let those of us whose history too plainly tells 
that no extraordinary power of God has rested 
upon us; who can look back to years of labor 
which, if not absolutely barren, yet, in comparison 
with what others have reaped, must be called 
years of barrenness—let us not fail to bless and to 
honor, in our own hearts, those who have been in 
the mean time doing us good by the news that has 
reached us, every now and then, of the fruit of 
their labor. Above all, let us look back on our 
years of barrenness with most tender and contrite 
humiliation, crying earnestly to God to take away 
our reproach from among men, and to give us 
many, many children! 

A minister can never be responsible for success, 
but he is responsible for power; responsible not 
only for presenting the truth to the people—in 
which many seem to think that their responsibility 
terminates—but responsible also for this, that the 
truth he presents be not dry*, but accompanied with 
some energy of the Spirit. If the Spirit be in the 
man, shining upon his soul with the light of God, 
more or less of holy fire will go with the word. A 
frame having muscular strength, without nervous 
energy—a countenance with linear grace, without 
expression—a needle for the compass, without mag- 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 267 

netism, are not more defective than is the state¬ 
ment of religious truth without the accompanying 
power of the Holy Spirit. This power was pre¬ 
supposed in the man’s first entrance on the ministry. 
He stands there by virtue of his solemn declaration 
before God and men that he felt it in his heart; and 
he is bound to stir up the gift of God within him, 
to keep his lamp trimmed, and his light burning, 
and evermore to be replenishing with holy oil. 

This power has but one source—the Spirit of 
God in the soul of man. It is the one thing that 
can not be feigned. A hypocrite may possess the 
truth, and clearly explain, and powerfully urge, and 
passionately apply it. He may feign tenderness, 
feign ardor, feign all the passions, but he can not 
feign the power that searches the conscience, that 
makes men feel, “ God is in you of a truth,” that 
leads them in the silence of their own closets to wet 
their couch with their tears, and spend long nights 
in repenting before God. You may as well attempt 
to feign life in a dead eye, or music in a cracked 
voice, as to feign the power of the Holy Spirit in a 
soul that does not habitually wait at the throne of 
grace, until endued with power from on high. 

Those of us who are manifestly not endued with 
great power, who can not flatter ourselves that any 
one looks upon us as blessed messengers of God, 


268 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


or in any light higher than that of well-meaning and 
useful men, by whose ministry, perhaps, now and 
then, at rare intervals, such a thing may be heard 
of as a sinner being converted, and who yet feel dis¬ 
inclined to take any blame to our own heart on ac¬ 
count of our barrenness, can best judge how much 
time has been spent in our closets, in deploring the 
state of the souls that are perishing under our sight, 
in strong crying and tears to God for their deliver¬ 
ance, in importuning and imploring that we might 
be robed with power, and made mighty to blow an 
awakening blast, and rescue multitudes from the 
grasp of the devil. 

We can, each one for himself, best tell whether 
or not the results of our labors do very fairly cor¬ 
respond with the depth, intensity, and continuity 
of our secret search after the co-working fire of the 
Spirit. If on a review it should appear clear to us 
that far, far more might have been done in our pri¬ 
vate walk with God toward having our own souls 
imbued with the Spirit of Christ and of Christ’s 
Apostles, then let each of us conclude for himself, 
whether much more might or might not have been 
done to “ save those that hear him.” And should 
the conclusion on our mind be clear that more 
might have been done, much more—that it ought 
to have been done—that we are very guilty by rea- 
. son of supineness, of unbelief, of feeble and ineffec- 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 269 


tual prayer, of duplicity in our aim, or of any other 
defect in the keeping our own souls as God’s embas¬ 
sadors, let our penitence be deep, our cry for for¬ 
giveness pressing and earnest; but not for one mo¬ 
ment let it take that form which strangely unnerves 
and debilitates a man, namely, the state of mind in 
which one takes pleasure in talking of his own 
feebleness and unworthiness, or, at least, finds suffi¬ 
cient relief in talking of it. Rather let us feel sure 
that the God of grace and mercy will hearken to 
our voice, will answer our prayer, will forgive our 
past unfaithfulness, will draw near to us with new 
and gracious power, will enable us to go forth as 
giants refreshed with new wine, to bear away from 
the arms of the adversary, in triumph and with 
shouting, many a lamb that is ready to be torn to 
pieces. 

We can not be content to look upon the minister 
of this actual hour as any thing less, in the intention 
of our God and Saviour, than an instrument “ of the 
mighty power of God”—the power which is unto 
salvation. We do not expect the gift of tongues or 
of miracles, because these were not essential to the 
work of the ministry; but the active co-operation, 
the abiding unction of the Holy Spirit is. If we 
were forced to believe either that all the primitive 
manifestations of the Spirit were now attainable, or 
that all had now passed away, we could a thousand 


270 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


times rather look for the tongues and the miracles, 
with the gift of prophesying, than dismiss the hope 
of this last with that of the other gifts. Better the 
excess of faith, a thousand times better and more 
rational, than unbelief in any promise that stands 
clearly for all generations. Better to suppose that 
the Lord designed every sign and every token of 
His presence to continue with His Church to the 
last; than suppose that they were all to be called 
back, and that the Christians of the latter day were 
to suffer a total privation of the Holy Spirit’s minis¬ 
terial gifts. 

We will covet, earnestly covet, the Lord’s good 
gift of prophesying; and we will covet, also, the 
“ manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal,” not 
only in the pastors of the Church, but in the mem¬ 
bers, giving to one the word of wisdom, to another 
the word of knowledge, to another the spirit of 
grace and of supplications, that men with fire in 
their hearts may go everywhere, and publicly or 
privately preach the word, the Lord working with 
them, and confirming the word by signs following. 
Let us look up and hope to see, not one, or two, or 
three, not merely an occasional and extraordinary 
man, shining in the churches as wuth a light from 
on high ; but let us soberly, and steadily, and in 
prayer, expect companies of preachers, each differ¬ 
ing from his brethren, yet all of them manifesting in 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 271 

some form or another that an anointing from the 
Holy One abides upon them, teaches them in all 
things, and enables them to appear before men, not 
only saying in words, but by their commending 
fruits saying to the conscience, “ Now, then, we are 
embassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech 
you by us: we pray you, in Christ’s stead, be ye 
reconciled to God.” One such man is better than 
a thousand, and two of them will put ten thousand 
to flight. 

Intimately connected with the question of minis¬ 
terial power is another vital question—whether or 
not the Church is to retain the converting influ¬ 
ence of the Holy Spirit on any thing like the original 
scale. Here, again, we do not confine ourselves to 
combatting formally stated opinions, but deal with 
vague, undefined, unexpressed, or but half express¬ 
ed, sentiments, not embodied in the creed of any 
Church, but perceptible in the ordinary tone equally 
of religious conversation, literature and preaching. 
Is it not a prevalent state of feeling, that to look for 
a very large number of conversions at once is ex¬ 
travagant ; that for any minister to expect a great 
many to be converted while he is delivering the 
sermon then in hand, argues a mind scarcely bal¬ 
anced ; that sudden conversions have much to be 
said against them ; that we ought to be content if 


272 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


the work of God proceed slowly, and to be elated 
if the good men of any community bear some re¬ 
spectable proportion to the numbers who forget 
God? 

It is manifest that the conversions effected by the 
primitive Church were very numerous, compared 
with her agencies and facilities ; varying greatly in 
different times and places, but, in the main, going 
onward with accumulative power. The difference 
between the conversion of a Jew to the faith and 
holiness of the Gospel, and the conversion of a nom¬ 
inal Christian to the same faith and holiness, is a 
difference, not of kind, but of degree ; and the de 
gree is not so great as might at first sight be sup¬ 
posed. The Jew believed the oracles of God, and 
the truths therein contained, as far as he knew 
them. So does the nominal Christian. Both hold 
the truth in unrighteousness—the unrighteousness 
of frank rebellion, or of Pharisaical self-righteous¬ 
ness. Both are brought to learn God’s love in re¬ 
deeming man, to repent, to believe on the crucified 
Messiah as their Saviour, and to walk in fellowship 
with the Father and the Son. 

The conversion of a heathen involved much more 
of intellectual enlightenment, and, on the whole, 
presented a greater difficulty, and a greater change; 
but we do not find that the Apostles ever point out 
any difference in the operation of the Spirit in the 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 273 


conversion of a Jewish scribe, and of a heathen 
necromancer, of a Roman centurion, and of a widow 
in Jerusalem. The same mighty power convinced 
them all of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, 
and brought them to a level by the wounds of a 
smitten spirit: then—like those with various mala¬ 
dies, who all came to Christ, and were all healed— 
came barbarian and Scythian, bond and free, Jew 
and Greek, learned and unlearned. 

If we take the hundred and twenty disciples of 
whom the Church consisted on the Day of Pente¬ 
cost, and then take the number of Christians before 
the first century was ended, we see how “ mightily 
grew the word of God, and prevailed.” Then sup¬ 
pose, for one moment, the possibility that, by the 
same spiritual power, the Church had multiplied her 
converts in equal ratio: few ages would have 
elapsed before the whole earth would have been 
renewed in righteousness. But the saint-making 
power abated; and crowds of Christians became 
little better, though still better, than crowds of 
heathen. Was this loss of efficiency owing to the 
unfaithfulness of men, and, therefore, capable of 
being recovered by a return to the original means 
of importunate prayer and strong faith ? or was it 
owing to a design of the Head of the Church, and 
therefore irrecoverable ? 

On a question so vital to the interests of man- 
18 


274 


THE TONGUE OF FIKE. 


kind, no mind ought to float on the prevailing cur¬ 
rent without adopting a deliberate conviction. 
Was the conversion of-thousands in Jerusalem, of 
crowds in Ephesus, in Samaria, Antioch, Corinth, 
Rome, and elsewhere, a proof, once for all, of what 
God could do toward the saving of this lost world, 
which He designed never to repeat, and which His 
children would be presumptuous in expecting to 
see again? Were those multitudes, so speedily 
gathered out of the world, to represent, in future 
ages, only small companies of true believers, to 
whom accessions were to be very gradual, and who 
were never to gain the overwhelming majority ? 
If so, then the Christian dispensation was deliber 
ately planned above to begin in sunrise, but, instead 
of shining more and more to the perfect day, speed¬ 
ily to pale into twilight; and then darken to a long, 
long night, in which stars would thinly spangle a 
wide space of gloom. 

Would not many who recoil from this conclusion 
stare at a man having a congregation of a thousand 
people before him, any one of whom would feel 
perplexed if you asked him, “ Could you confi¬ 
dently lay your hand on fifty persons in this congre¬ 
gation who are living like heirs of heaven ?”—if he, 
simply telling them their state, would go on to say, 
that they might all that very morning become 
children of God, and live for “ the rest of their 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 275 

time” a new and blessed life ? Were it done with 
the official formality which at once indicated that it 
was just a thing proper to be believed, and even to 
be said now and then, very probably it would excite 
no remark; but if it were done with the downright 
air of a man who thoroughly meant what he said, 
and was then and there looking for corresponding 
results, would not many be startled ? But why ? 
If it be not true that God has withdrawn from 
Christianity the converting power of the Holy 
Ghost, why ? Either affirm your principle, or 
abandon the habit of thought which you have 
formed on the assumption of that principle. If 
you see that there is death to the Church, or death 
to souls, in the principle, why not see that there is 
death, too, in assuming it, and acting upon it, as 
clearly announced, without affirming it ? 

Some who would be gratified to see an expecta¬ 
tion of one conversion, or of a few, would never¬ 
theless be disturbed by the manifest expectation of 
a great number. Why should this be ? If the 
Minister of the Gospel is not now to go before a 
multitude with a frank and earnest assurance that 
every one of them who will only repent and believe 
may “ receive the gift of the Holy Ghost,” it must 
be because our dispensation has been fearfully 
changed since its opening. The first multitude who 
stood before a preacher of Christianity can never 


I 


276 the tongue of fire. 

be regarded as representing itself alone. When 
the cry arose from it, “ What must we do ?” it was 
not the men then present only who inquired. It 
was you, and I, and every man who ever comes to 
a preacher of the Gospel to hear what he has to 
say on the great subject of our salvation. The 
answer which Peter rendered to that multitude was 
not to them alone, but to us and to our children, to 
all of every age and every nation who put the 
question which they put. That answer was, “ Re¬ 
pent, and be baptized, every one of you in the 
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and 
ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” He 
does not promise them that they should be admitted 
as members of the Church merely, accounted Chris¬ 
tians merely, or that after death they shall inherit 
eternal happiness; but, in plain strong words, he 
tells them that they shall receive that blessing which 
constitutes the substance of the Gospel: “ Ye shall 
receive the gift of the Holy Ghostand this, not 
“ some of you,” but “ every one of you,” with no 
condition whatever but that they “ repent, and be 
baptized.” 

Is it to be supposed that Peter would have altered 
this reply, had you, and I, and our children been 
there ? or that, had the image of future generations 
risen to his eye as standing behind those he ad¬ 
dressed and represented by them, he would have 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 277 

qualified his grand promise, and taken care to falter 
something guarded, instead of plainly saying, 
“ Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost ?” 
Let those who fear to regard this promise as 
equally applicable to us as to them, only read the 
words with which he follows it up : “ For the 
promise is unto you, and to your children, and to 
all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our 
God shall call. On the next occasion when he ad¬ 
dresses a multitude, he holds this language: “Unto 
you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent 
Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you 
from his iniquities .” Here the converting grace 
of Christ is without hesitation proclaimed to all who 
stand before him. 

It is to be remarked that what he here states to 
be Christ’s mode of blessing men lies in conversion 
itself, in the “turning away” of a man “from his 
iniquities.” Whatever the Gospel may do indirectly 
for the enlightenment and elevation of a man, so long 
as he continues the servant of sin, it has conferred 
upon him no eternal advantage. “ His servants ye 
are to whom ye obey,” is a word that must stand 
forever. He that is still doing the work of Satan 
is his servant, and with him must take his reward. 
And it is also notable that he speaks of Jesus hav¬ 
ing been sent to bless them after He had been 
raised; thus announcing a mission of Christ subse- 


278 


THE TONGUE OF FIKE. 


quent to His resurrection, yet having already taken 
place in those days. This must be that presence 
of Christ which He promised them when He was 
about to depart from them, saying, in the very act 
of leaving them, “ I am with you alway, even unto 
the end of the world.” 

44 With them,” no longer in that body which con¬ 
fined Him to the very spot in which the Twelve 
were, but 44 with them” by the power of His Spirit, 
which is represented in the Apocalypse as the 
44 eyes of the Lamb.” 44 And I beheld, and lo, in 
the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and 
in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had 
been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, 
which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into 
all the earth.”* Here we have the Lamb en¬ 
throned, yet 44 as slain,” with the tokens of death 
and atonement upon Him ; yet, again, 44 having 
seven horns,” the signs of universal kingship, 44 and 
seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent 
forth into all the earth.” Majesty, mediation, and 
spiritual presence “throughout all the earth,” are 
here gloriously set before us; and the Lamb, though 
no longer bodily present with one group of dis¬ 
ciples, is present with all, by His Spirit, which 
is moving in the hearts of those who serve Him, 
as if it were the glance of the Lord. He ascended 
* Kev. v. 6. 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 279 

that He might be with us all and with us always, 
just as a Prince, on the eve of the battle, would 
retire from any one division of his army, and go 
above them, that he might be present with all; 
for he would be present with every battalion 
that he had under his sight. And as that Prince 
would dart his own spirit by his eye into the 
breast of eveiy follower, so does our Kin g dart 
His into the breast of all who wait before His 
throne. 

The one blessing, then, which the exalted Medi¬ 
ator has to confer on this world is, in “ turning men 
from their iniquities,” in converting sinners from 
the error of their ways, in bringing those who are 
afar off from God nigh to Him, and making those 
who are now living in sin to be “ heirs of God, and 
joint-heirs with Christrestoring, in fact, the image 
of God upon earth, manifesting the Divine ideal of 
humanity in our “ mortal bodies,” rearing up com¬ 
munities who shall be properly called, “ the children 
of our Father who is in heaven”—communities, 
whose ruling nature shall not be that of fallen 
Adam, but who shall have that mind in them which 
was also in Christ, being made partakers of the 
Divine nature, and, in proof thereof, loving those 
that hate them, blessing those that curse them, 
praying for those that despitefully use them and 
persecute them; and thus, by returning good feel- 


280 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


ings for bad feelings, good words for bad words, 
good deeds for bad deeds, showing themselves 
the children of their Father in heaven. The 
triumph and glory of Christ lies in so renewing 
the face of the earth, that this image of God 
shall be the prevalent characteristic of humanity, 
that peace and good-will shall take hold of na¬ 
tions, righteousness and truth flourish in the homes 
of all. 

The accomplishment, to a considerable extent, of 
this great purpose formed the singular glory of the 
early Church. To a community in the city of Rome 
it could be said, “Ye were the servants of sin. * * * 
But now, being made free from sin, and become 
servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, 
and the end everlasting life.” To another company 
in the city of Corinth it could be said, after describ¬ 
ing the various classes of sinners who could not see 
the kingdom of God, “Such were some of you; 
but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are 
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the 
Spirit of our God.” To some in the city of Ephesus 
it could be said, “ And you hath He quickened who 
were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in times 
past ye walked according to the course of this 
world, according to the prince of the power of the 
air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of 
disobedience: among whom also we all had our 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 281 

conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, 
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; 
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as 
others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His 
great love wherewith He loved us, even when we 
were dead in sins, hath-quickened us together with 
Christ (by grace are ye saved); and hath raised us 
up together, and made us sit together in heavenly 
places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come He 
might show the exceeding riches of His grace in 
His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”* 
To some in the city of Colosse it could be said, 
“ Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made 
us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the 
saints in light: who hath delivered us from the 
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the 
kingdom of His dear Son.”f To some in Thessa- 
lonica it could be said, “ And ye became followers 
of us, and of the Lord, having received the word 
in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: so 
that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Mace¬ 
donia and Achaia.”| And when our Lord looked 
down from Heaven upon the Seven Churches of 
Asia, even His eyes of flame, looking upon the 
Church of Sardis itself, saw there were “some 
names in Sardis which had not defiled their gar^ 
ments.” 

« Eph. ii. 1 -7. f Col. i. 12, 13. % 1 Thess. i. 6, 7. 


282 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


To suppose that this power to regenerate man, 
and thereby to ameliorate human society, has been 
withdrawn from the Church by the will and ap¬ 
pointment of her adorable Head, is to suppose, in 
fact, that the one practical end of Christianity has 
been voluntarily abandoned —that end which lies in 
glorifying God upon the earth, and in saving the 
souls of men. If Christianity can not renew men 
in the image of God, she ceases to have any special 
distinction above other religions, except the one of 
more wisdom and more virtue. Her mission here 
was to overcome Satan in the realm in which he 
had hitherto triumphed, to re-establish the empire 
of God over the hearts and lives of a race that had 
wandered from Him, and to prepare out of the 
children of that race heirs meet for a pure and an 
immortal kingdom. 

Hot onlj would this practical end be abandoned, 
but the standing evidence to Christianity would be 
discontinued. The miracles and prophecies of the 
past time are an evidence to Christianity as a sys¬ 
tem of truth; but if she be only a system of truth, 
and not also a power unto salvation, she but adds 
to the guilt of men here by increasing their light, 
and to their misery hereafter by increasing their 
stripes. Ho miracles, no prophecies, no accumula¬ 
tion of arguments under heaven can demonstrate to 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 283 

our neighbors at this moment that Christianity is a 
power which can actually make men superior to 
their own circumstances and their own sins; which 
can take men of this nineteenth century, men with 
sin in their blood, sin in their bones, sin in their 
habits, sin in their down-sitting and their uprising, 
sin against God, sin against their neighbor, sin 
against themselves, sins of self-interest and sins 
against self-interest, sins for happiness, and sins that 
wreck happiness—and out of these men, still living 
in the very circumstances wherein their past time 
has been spent, make “ servants of God, free from 
sin, having their fruit unto holiness, and the end 
everlasting life.” 

The evidence of this, the only real and effective 
evidence, is living men who have been regenerated, 
and whose good works plainly declare them to be 
of our Father who is in Heaven. We, too, can say, 
that “God has sent His Son Jesus to bless” our 
neighbors, “in turning away every one of them 
from his iniquities;” but how unimpressive would 
be our saying it, were there none to whom we 
could point them, and add, “ These are our epistles, 
known and read of all men!” 

Peter, recurring again to the kingly state of the 
Saviour, said, “Him hath God exalted with His 
right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give 
repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And 


284 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


we are His witnesses of these things; and so is also 
t£e Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that 
obey Him.”* Here is the double evidence, that of 
Apostles and that of the Spirit in living converts. 
We of this day are also Christ’s witnesses that He 
is “ exalted a Prince and a Saviour, to give repent¬ 
ance and forgiveness of sins;” but our witness 
must be corroborated by those who, having re¬ 
ceived the Holy Ghost, live in the Spirit and walk 
in the Spirit. 

Peter, in speaking of the witness which the 
Prophets bore to Christ, sums it up thus: u To 
Him give all the Prophets witness, that through 
His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive 
remission of sins.” When we bear this witness, 
we ought to expect the same attestation of it which 
Peter saw in his Gentile audience, and which he 
afterward used to prove that they also had received 
salvation as well as the Jews; namely, God “put 
no difference between us” (the first Jewish con¬ 
verts) “ and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” 
Wherever men can be pointed to, whose hearts 
have been purified by faith, whose lives are a man¬ 
ifest example of salvation from sin, there is the 
standing evidence that Christianity is u the power 
of God unto salvation;” and no other description 
of evidence, as we before said, can prove this. Is 
* Acts v. 31, 32. 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 285 

it supposable that Christ has withdrawn from His 
Church or diminished that power which would 
show continually that He “ saves His people from 
their sins ?” 

The converting power is also the Church's great 
attraction. It is true that some would attract men 
by ceremonies, or talent, or the charms of arch¬ 
itecture or music—attract them that they may con¬ 
vert them; whereas the true order is, Convert, that 
you may attract. The one is the order of the char¬ 
latan, who trusts to factitious allurements for at¬ 
tracting the public in the hope that he may cure 
some; the other, the order of the true physician, 
who trusts to the fact of his curing some as the 
means of attracting others. Whenever the Church 
sends into a family one new convert glowing with 
love and joy, she kindles a light which will, in all 
probability, give light to all that are in the house. 
Whenever she is the means of making one shop¬ 
man turn from his sins, and exhibit to his comrades 
a picture of holy living, in all probability she will 
soon have others from that shop at her altars. 
Whenever she brings one factory-girl to sit, like 
Mary, at the feet of Jesus, very probably in a little 
while other Marys will be with her. 

In every situation, new con\*erts are the most 
powerful attraction that ever acts on those who are 


286 


THE TONGUE OP EIRE. 


still in the world. There seems a peculiar spiritual 
power connected with the first love, and an im¬ 
pressiveness in the words, of new converts, enforced 
by the manifest change in them, which nothing else 
can exert. That house of God which becomes noted 
in a neighborhood as a place in which many sinners 
have been “ transformed by the renewing of their 
minds,” will, by a certain instinct of our redeemed 
humanity, soon become a center of attraction, not 
only to those who, with scarcely any light, are 
groping after the truth, but even to men who are 
still hardily going on in sin. The greatest fame of 
Christianity is the fame of the cures she works, her 
greatest glory the glory of the saints she trains, her 
own unshared renown the renown of sinners renewed 
in the image of God; and wherever works of this 
kind are noised abroad in any community, there the 
preacher will not want hearers, there the sower will 
not be without a field. 

The converting power is also the principal lever 
which Christianity can use for raising the standard 
of morals in nations. Instruction is the basis of all 
moral operation; but instruction in morals, like in¬ 
struction in science, is of little force unless backed 
by experiment. Say all you can to men about the 
duty of returning good for evil, they will scarcely 
have a clear conception of it, until they see some 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 287 

man deliberately benefiting one from whom he has 
received deliberate injury. One tradesman con¬ 
verted, and manfully taking ground among his com¬ 
panions against trade tricks once used by himself, 
casts greater shame upon their dishonesty than all 
the instructions they ever heard from pulpits; or, 
rather, gives an edge, a power, and an embodiment 
to them all. One youth whom religion strengthens 
to walk purely among dissipated companions sends 
lights and stings into their consciences which mere 
instruction could not give, because it shows them 
that purity is not, as temptation says, unattainable. 
And so with all the virtues; it is but by embodying 
them in the persons of men that they become 
thoroughly understood in the public mind. 

It is but too well known that there are nations 
of the highest civilization, in which all that need be 
said about truthfulness has been said for ages, till 
the word “ truth” is on the lips of every one ; yet 
it is next to impossible to find one being who has 
any thing like a just conception of what manly, 
consistent, continual truth-telling is. 

Just in proportion as the number of converted 
men is great or small, will be the amount of con¬ 
science in the community generally. Viewed in 
this light, each conversion facilitates future con¬ 
versions. Each new convert adds somewhat to the 
moral influence existing among men, and each ad- 


288 


THE TONGUE OP FIRE. 


ditional thousand greatly improves the public con¬ 
science, and weakens the ties which bind men to 
sin. Where no one is godly, moderately correct 
persons are almost ashamed of their lack of bad¬ 
ness ; where a tenth of the adults are godly, even 
ordinary sinners are ashamed of their lack of good¬ 
ness ; and where a fifth, or a third of the adults are 
godly, the hinderances to the conversion of the rest 
are as nothing, compared with those that exist 
where the great masses are still living in their sins. 

The converting power is also the only means 
whereby Christianity raises up agents for her own 
propagation. That which is wanted in an agent, 
above all, is zeal—zeal for God, burning desire to 
save sinners. This zeal is never a matter of mere 
conviction, but always a matter of nature. It is 
“Christ in you.” It is “the love of Christ con¬ 
straining you.” It is the Divine nature, which de¬ 
lights to communicate, to bestow, to purify, to save, 
breathed into the soul of man, and impelling it in 
the same course wherein Christ Himself moved. 
Agents with this nature we can have only by suc¬ 
cessive outpourings of the Spirit of God, by con¬ 
stant accessions of new converts. 

When they who have been great sinners are 
themselves converted to God, having been forgiven 
much, they love much, and frequently become 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 289 

mighty instruments of winning others to Christ. 
For the high work of the ministry, either we must 
content ourselves to make ministers by a factitious 
process, or we must look to see them springing up 
from amid multitudes of new converts, who in 
youth turn to the Lord, and devote themselves to 
do His will. When conversions are not few, but 
many—when “ numbers turn to the Lord”—when 
the inhabitants of one town say to those of another, 
“ Come, let us go speedily to seek the Lord, and to 
pray before the Lord of hosts”—when there are 
many repenting, and many rejoicing, saying, “We 
have redemption in His blood, even the forgiveness 
of sins”—then will assuredly appear some with plain 
marks that the spirit of the prophets is in them, and 
that they are called to spread, far and wide, the 
glorious salvation of which they themselves partake. 

Nothing so re-animates the zeal of old Christians 
as witnessing the joy and simplicity, the gratitude 
and fervor, of those who have been lately born of 
God. While the old disciple is to the young one 
an example of moderation and strength, the young 
is to the old an example of fervor; the one shed¬ 
ding upon the other a steadying influence, while he 
receives in return a cheering and an impelling one. 

It is also wonderful how much the occurrence of 
conversions heightens the efficiency of men already 
employed in the ministry, or in other departments 
19 


290 


THE TONGUE OP FERE. 


of the work of God. The preacher preaches with 
new heart, the exhorter exhorts with revived feel¬ 
ing, he that prays has double faith and fervor; 
and the joy of conquest breathes new vigor into all 
the Lord’s host. 

While the importance, and in fact the necessity, 
of the converting power of the Spirit may be ad¬ 
mitted in the abstract, all its practical value may be 
set aside by cherishing dislike to the idea of sudden 
conversions, or numerous conversions. It is deemed 
sober to expect conversions some time, but not sg 
to expect them now; and as the “ now” perpetuates 
itself on, and on, and on through the lifetime of a 
generation, the time to look for their conversion 
never comes, and the next generation succeed to 
the same chill law of unbelief; each one living in 
the doomed “ now” when the converting power is 
not to be looked for without fanaticism. 

The preference so carefully and even ostenta, 
tiously displayed by many good men for what are 
called, gradual conversions over sudden ones, may 
have some foundation—but not in Scripture. All 
the conversions we find mentioned in the New Tes- 
tament are sudden. That of Lydia is the only one 
that is ever cited as being gradual, and yet it took 
place under one sermon. The expression, “The 
Lord opened her heart,” can not imply, at the very 
most, more than that the action upon her heart was 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 291 


a gentle one; the door was opened, not burst in; 
but it did not take three months to open it—it was 
done in a day. The sudden conversion is an opera¬ 
tion manifestly Divine. It brings with it a token 
of something supernatural; and when the after-life 
attests its genuineness, there is in the very fact of 
its suddenness a perpetual memento of “ the mighty 
power of God.” The natural aversion of the heart 
to every thing which forces upon it the conscious¬ 
ness of a spiritual and supernatural power moving 
in this present life, sufficiently accounts for the tend¬ 
ency we all feel to prefer some mode of operation 
which would appear less supernatural than the sud¬ 
den, not to say miraculous, transformations from 
sin to godliness, which form the common-place 
chronicles of the early Church. 

As to the question, whether those who are sud¬ 
denly converted are or are not as stable as those 
upon whom the work is more gradual, few are in a 
good position to judge; for every one who is sud¬ 
denly converted is sure to have many eyes upon 
him, and if he draw back, the notice of all these is 
excited; whereas many who gradually take up a 
religious profession gradually drop it again, and 
scarcely any notice is taken. But, be the question 
of stability settled as it may, it is certain that the 
scriptural examples of conversion are sudden, and 
equally certain that, if we are to look only for 


292 


THE TONGUE OP PIEE. 


gradual conversions, we must deliberately make up 
our minds to see millions upon millions of our 
countrymen die impenitent, who, if sudden con¬ 
versions are multiplied, may yet be brought to God 
before they end their days. The jailor was found 
at the extremity of sinfulness, just in the act of 
suicide; yet that very night salvation was preached 
to him, embraced by him, and filled his heart with 
holy joy. 

Some would not so much object to sudden con¬ 
versions, if many of them did not take place at a 
time. But there is something unaccountable in the 
feeling with which even godly men look upon any 
movement in which it would seem, that a large 
number of sinners have been simultaneously turned 
to God. First, they can hardly believe that the 
work is real, they begin to prophesy that it will 
not be lasting. Then, if they find that it has lasted, 
they still incline to think that they had better not 
look for any thing so extraordinary among their 
own neighbors, but go on steadily, as they say, 
gaining by degrees. 

One simple objection to this theory of “going on 
steadily” (that is, slowly) is, that it coolly consigns 
whole generations to hell, and leaves us with the 
dreadful feeling, that the best progress of the work 
of God is a progress which leaves the great majority 


PERMA2iENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 293 

of those now alive hopelessly in their sins. Another 
objection to this “going on steadily” is, that it is 
not Pentecostal; it is not primitive ; it is not after 
the example of “ the mighty power of God.” In 
the early Church conversions were by the hundred 
and the thousand; the word spread, not with the 
moderation dear to small and proper men, who are 
always afraid of being charged with extravagance, 
but with the sweep and power of a Divine movement, 
the agents in which were borne onward as on the 
wings of the wind, willing to be a laughing-stock to 
men, willing to hear an outcry from the world which 
they were turning upside down. 

When conversions are very numerous, in propor¬ 
tion to the human instruments, the agency of God 
is much more strikingly manifested than when they 
are few. Although the man who, by his own ex¬ 
perience, knows what it is to pass from darkness to 
light, will see an evidence of the power of the Holy 
Ghost in any and every true conversion; those who 
have no such experience, easily avoid concluding 
that a supernatural power is in action, so long as 
they can trace an imagined proportion between the 
agency and the results. If a few people are turned 
from their sins by many preachers, it seems no more 
than natural; if a few holy men are found in a 
multitude, it is only another proof, they think, of 
the fact that there will always be a certain number 


294 


THE TONGUE OP FIRE. 


of good people among the wicked. But if a large 
number of thoughtless youths, or confirmed sinners, 
become devoted to God through the instrumentality 
of some one preacher, and if this extend to neigh¬ 
borhood after neighborhood, a feeling falls upon 
spectators that it is not to be accounted for by reas¬ 
oning about proportion, but by the operation of a 
superior power. 

Let but the results of preaching as to the number 
and suddenness of the conversions pass a certain 
point—let the number be thousands, and the time 
one day—and the idea of attributing this to the 
power of some men would not enter the mind. 
Who ever thought, on reading that three thousand 
Jews were converted on the day of Pentecost, and 
lived holy lives afterward, of exclaiming, “ What a 
preacher Peter was !” The magnitude of the effect 
at once suggests a superhuman cause. Had the 
result been small, the man would have been glori¬ 
fied; but when it took such proportions, he was 
thrown into the shade, and “ the mighty power of 
God” alone occupies the mind. When a flash of 
light falls on our path in the street in the evening, 
we should at once think of a lamp, because the sur¬ 
face illuminated in itself indicates some such origin. 
But if we see a light fall upon a hill, and sweep over 
successive hills until a whole country-side is bright¬ 
ened, we think of the sun. 


PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 295 

Too many conversions now take place, too many 
really converted men are to be found, to permit any 
one to believe that the converting power of the 
Spirit has been wholly withdrawn from the Church. 
His presence in the midst of us is attested by many 
witnesses ; but the practical question for us is, Is it 
contrary to the design of God that true believers 
now should multiply themselves as rapidly, in pro¬ 
portion, as they did after the day of Pentecost ? 
If it be, then, no matter what means may be 
used, that result can not be obtained; but, if it 
be not , then we are bound to hope that, the same 
means being used—the same prayer, faith, and 
zeal being put forth on the part of the Church 
—the same blessing of the Holy Spirit will be 
vouchsafed. 

On the whole question as to what permanent 
benefits remain to the Church from the dispensa¬ 
tion of the Spirit, we contend that every thing 
substantial implied in the gift of the Holy Ghost 
remains unimpaired. Whatever is necessary to the 
holiness of the individual, to the spiritual life and 
ministering gifts of the Church, or to the conversion 
of the world, is as much the heritage of the people 
of God in the latest days as in the first. We do 
not see that the miraculous effects which followed 
the Pentecost are promised to all ages and all peo- 


296 


THE TONGUE OP FIRE. 


pie, and therefore we do not look for them to re¬ 
appear ; but we feel satisfied that he who does ex¬ 
pect the gift of healing, and the gift of tongues, or 
any other miraculous manifestation of the Holy 
Spirit, in addition to those substantial blessings of 
which these were, as we have said, the ushers and 
the heralds, has ten times more scriptural ground 
on which to base his expectation, than have they 
for their unbelief who do not expect supernatural 
sanctifying strength for the believer, supernatural 
aid in preaching, exhortation, and prayer, for 
Pastors and gifted members, and supernatural con¬ 
verting power upon the minds of those who are yet 
of the world. 


CHAPTER VI. 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 

At one time we meant to dwell at considerable 
length upon practical lessons connected with our 
subject; but this book is already larger than we 
wished it to be, and we will therefore touch only 
three topics. We may learn a lesson on the source 
of power; one on the way to obtain power; 
and one on the scale on which our expectations 
of success should be framed. 

In the application of any instrument, no error 
can be more fatal than one that affects the source 
of power. To recur to an illustration before used, 
any reasoning upon explosive weapons which as¬ 
sumed elasticity to be the source of power, must 
lead completely astray. If this is to be noted in 
all things, it is especially to be noted in what affects 
the regeneration of the world. In merely natural 
processes, persons proposing to affect the sentiments 
of mankind, must depend largely on their influence, 


298 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


their wealth, and their facilities. Christians fre¬ 
quently permit themselves to fall into a state of 
mind in which the want of all or any of these is 
taken to be fatal to their prospects of success, and 
the acquisition of them to be the first step toward 
making any impression. But wealth, influence, and 
facilities, however great, never yet secured results 
in the spiritual conversion of men; while the most 
notable triumphs of Christianity have often been 
gained in the total absence of them all. 

Others, or the same men at different times, would 
rather allow their hopes to rest on order, talent, or 
truth. But neither are these the source of power. 
Order is as necessary in Christianity as are bones, 
ligaments, and skin in a man; talent is as necessary 
as brain, and truth as blood. But you may have 
all these, and have a paralytic; ay, have them all, 
and have but a corpse. You must have both the 
breathing spirit and that indescribable something 
that we call “ power.” Indeed, the order of the 
Christian Church ought to be such, her outward 
framework so constructed, that she shall not be as 
a building, which, though it looks more cheerful 
when there is life within, yet will stand when there 
is none; but rather as a body, which falls the mo¬ 
ment the spirit forsakes it, and tends to decomposi¬ 
tion. No Church ought to be otherwise construct¬ 
ed, than in entire dependence on the presence of 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


299 


the living Spirit in all her ministerial arrangements. 
Her frame ought to answer to no definition that 
would suit an inorganic body; but to answer ex¬ 
actly to the celebrated definition of an organic one; 
namely, “ that wherein every part is mutually means 
and end.” The pervading presence of the Spirit 
should be assumed, so that, if it be absent, the pains 
of death shall instantly take hold upon her, and the 
cry be extorted, “ Lord, save, or I perish!” 

We must again recall to mind that most wonder¬ 
ful silence of ten days—that long, long pause of the 
commissioned Church in sight of the perishing 
worl<J. Never should the solemnity of that silence 
pass from the thoughts of any of God’s people. It 
stands in the very fore-front of our history—the 
Lord’s most memorable and affecting protest before¬ 
hand—that no authority under heaven, that no 
training, that no ordination could qualify men to 
propagate the Gospel, without the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost. Each successive day of those solemn 
and silent ten, the perishing world might have 
knocked at the door of the Church, and asked, 
“ What waitest thou for, O bride of the ascended 
Bridegroom ? Why dost thou not say, ‘ Come ?’ 
Why leavest thou us to slumber on uncalled, un¬ 
warned, unblessed, whilst thou, with thy good tid¬ 
ings, art tarrying inactive there ? What waitest 
thou for ?” and every moment the answer would 


300 


THE TONGUE OP FIRE. 


have been, “ We are waiting to be ‘endued with 
power from on high;’ we are waiting to be bap 
tized with the Holy Ghost and with fire.’ ” 

This is the one and the only source of our power 
Without this, our wealth, influence, facilities, are 
ships of war and ammunition without guns or men; 
our order, talent, truth, are men and guns, without 
fire. We want in this age, above all wants, fire, 
God’s holy fire, burning in the hearts of men, stir¬ 
ring their brains, impelling their emotions, thrilling 
in their tongues, glowing in their countenances, 
vibrating in their actions, expanding their intellec¬ 
tual powers more than can ever be done by the 
heats of genius, of argument, or of party; and fusing 
all their knowledge, logic, and rhetoric into a burn¬ 
ing stream. Every accessory, every instrument of 
usefulness, the Church has now in such a degree and 
of such excellence as was never known in any other 
age; and we want but a supreme and glorious bap¬ 
tism of fire to exhibit to the world such a spectacle 
as would raise ten thousand hallelujahs to the glory 
of our King. 

Let but this baptism descend, and thousands of 
us who, up to this day, have been but common¬ 
place or weak ministers, such as might easily pass 
from the memory of mankind, would then become 
mighty. Men would wonder at us, as if we had 
been made anew; and we should wonder, not at 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


301 


ourselves, but at the grace of God which could 
thus transform us. 

Suppose we saw an army sitting down before a 
granite fort, and they told us that they intended to 
batter it down : we might ask them, “ How ?” 
They point to a cannon-ball. Well, but there is no 
power in that; it is heavy, but not more than half 
a hundred, or perhaps a hundred, weight: if all the 
men in the army hurled it against the fort, they 
would make no impression. They say, “No; but 
look at the cannon.” Well, there is no power in 
that. A child may ride upon it, a bird may perch 
in its mouth; it is a machine, and nothing more. 
“But look at the powder.” Well, there is no 
power in that; a child may spill it, a sparrow may 
peck it. Yet this powerless powder, and powerless 
ball, are put into the powerless cannon;—one spark 
of fire enters it; and then, in the twinkling of an 
eye, that powder is a flash of lightning, and that 
ball a thunderbolt, which smites as if it had been 
sent from heaven. So is it with our Church ma¬ 
chinery at this day: we have all the instruments 
necessary for pulling down strongholds, and O for 
the baptism of fire! 

As TO THE WAT IN WHICH THIS POWER MAY BE 
obtained, here we have only to recall the lesson of 
the Ten Days—“ They continued with one accord 


302 


THE TONGUE OF FIFE. 


in prayer and supplication.” Prayer earnest, prayer 
united, and prayer persevering, these are the con¬ 
ditions ; and, these being fulfilled, we shall assuredly 
be “ endued with power from on high.” We 
should never expect that the power will fall upon 
us just because we happen once to awake and ask for 
it. Nor have any community of Christians a right 
to look for a great manifestation of the Spirit, if 
they are not all ready to join in supplication, and, 
“ with one accord,” to wait and pray as if it were 
the concern of each one. The murmurer who al¬ 
ways accounts for barrenness in the Church by the 
faults of others, may be assured that his readiest 
way to spiritual power, if that be his real object, 
lies in uniting all, as one heart, to pray without 
ceasing. 

Above all, we are not to expect it without perse¬ 
vering prayer. Prayer which takes the fact that 
past prayers have not yet been answered, as a rea¬ 
son for languor, has already ceased to be the prayer 
of faith. To the latter, the fact that prayers remain 
unanswered, is only evidence that the moment of the 
answer is so much nearer. From first to last, the 
lessons and example of our Lord all tell us that 
prayer which can not persevere, and urge its plea 
importunately, and renew, and renew itself again, 
and gather strength from every past petition, is not 
the prayer that will prevail. 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


303 


When John in the Apocalypse saw the Lamb on 
the throne, before that throne were the seven lamps 
of fire burning, “ which are the seven Spirits of God 
sent forth into all the earth;” and it is only by 
waiting before that throne of grace that we become 
imbued with the holy fire; but he who waits there 
long and believingly will imbibe that fire, and come 
forth from his communion with God, bearing tokens 
of where he has been. For the individual believer, 
and, above all, for every laborer in the Lord’s vine¬ 
yard, the only way to gain spiritual power is by se¬ 
cret waiting at the throne of God for the baptism 
of the Holy Spirit. Every moment spent in real 
prayer is a moment spent in refreshing the fire of 
God within the soul. We said before, that this fire 
can not be simulated; nothing else will produce its 
effects. No more can the means of obtaining it be 
feigned. Nothing but the Lord’s own appointed 
means, nothing but “ waiting at the throne,” noth¬ 
ing but keeping the heart under “the eyes of the 
Lamb,” to be again, and again, and again pene¬ 
trated by His Spirit, can put the soul into that con¬ 
dition in which it is a meet instrument to impart 
the light and power of God to other men. 

When a lecturer on electricity wants to show an 
example of a human body surcharged with his fire, 
he places a person on a stool with glass legs. The 
glass serves to isolate him from the earth, because it 


304 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


will not conduct the fire—the electric fluid: were it 
not for this, however much might be poured into 
his frame, it would be carried away by the earth; 
but, when thus isolated from it, he retains all that 
enters him. You see no fire, you hear no fire; but 
you are told that it is pouring into him. Presently 
you are challenged to the proof—asked to come 
near, and hold your hand close to his person; when 
you do so, a spark of fire shoots out toward you. 
2f thou, then, wouldst have thy soul surcharged 
with the fire of God, so that those who come nigh 
to thee shall feel some mysterious influence pro¬ 
ceeding out from thee, thou must draw nigh to the 
source of that fire, to the throne of God and of the 
Lamb, and shut thyself out from the world—that 
cold world, which so swiftly steals our fire away. 
Enter into thy closet, and shut to thy door, and 
there, isolated, “ before the throne,” await the bap¬ 
tism ; then the fire shall fill thee, and when thou 
comest forth, holy power will attend thee, and thou 
shalt labor, not in thine own strength, but “ with 
[demonstration of the Spirit, and with power.” 

As this is the only way for an individual to ob¬ 
tain spiritual power, so is it the only way for 
Churches. Prayer, prayer, all prayer—mighty, im¬ 
portunate, repeated, united prayer; the rich and 
the poor, the learned and the unlearned, the fathers 
and the children, the pastors and the people, the 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


305 


gifted and the simple, all uniting to cry to God 
above, that He would come and affect them as in 
the days of the right hand of the Most High, and 
imbue them with the Spirit of Christ, and warm 
them, and kindle them, and make them as a flame 
of fire, and lay His right hand mightily on the sin¬ 
ners that surround them, and turn them in truth to 
Him. Such united and repeated supplications will 
assuredly accomplish their end, and “ the power of 
God” descending will make every such company as 
a band of giants refreshed with new wine. 

If the source of our power, and the way to ob¬ 
tain it, be so plain, how can it be that the “ tongue 
of fire” is so rare ? What are the hinderances f 
Is it because, as many would seem to think, nothing 
is so difficult to obtain as the grace of the Holy 
Spirit? We often hear it said, All effort must be 
unsuccessful without the blessing of God, without 
the accompanying power of the Spirit; and the 
tone used indicates that it is therefore proper not to 
look for any great results, as if the accompanying 
power of the Spirit was the only thing not to be 
counted upon. The recognition of our impotency 
without the Spirit, and of the absolute necessity.of 
His presence and His power, is as needful as the 
recognition of the fact that, without sunshine and 
rain, all labor and all skill would fail to preserve the 
20 


306 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


human race for one season. But the sunshine and 
the rain are precisely the things which cost nothing, 
and on which we may constantly depend. So it is 
with the baptism and the power of the Holy Spirit. 
Freer than the air we breathe, freer than the rich 
sunbeams, freer than any of God’s other gifts, be¬ 
cause it is the one which has cost Him most, and 
which blesses His children most, that gift is ever at 
hand; and when we have done what the Lord lays 
upon us to do, it is dishonoring to Him to cherish a 
' secret feeling as if He, being good, not evil, was 
backward to pour out His Spirit, and to do good to 
His children. 

This feeling of unbelief, wherever cherished, must, 
on the principles of the Gospel, be fatal to all power. 
He alone who magnifies the freeness, the fullness, 
and the present efficacy of the Lord’s grace, can by 
the Holy Ghost accomplish wonder. Trust, firm 
trust, straightforward, child-like trust, is the ever¬ 
lasting condition of all co-operation with God. He 
will not use, He will not bless, He will not inhabit 
the heart that, at the moment when it offers Him a 
request, says, “ I doubt Thee.” 

In this age of faith in the natural, and disinclin¬ 
ation to the supernatural, we want especially to 
meet the whole world with this credo, “ I believe in 
the Holy Ghost.” I expect to see saints as lovely 
as any that are written of in the Scriptures—be- 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


307 


cause I believe in the Holy Ghost. I expect to see 
preachers as powerful to set forth Christ evidently 
crucified before the eyes of men, as powerful to 
pierce the conscience, to persuade, to convince, to 
convert, as any that ever shook the multitudes of 
Jerusalem, or Corinth, or Rome—because I believe 
in the Holy Ghost. I expect to see Churches the 
members of which shall be severally endued with 
spiritual gifts, and every one moving in spiritual 
activity, animating and edifying one another, com¬ 
mending themselves to the conscience of the world 
by their good works, commending their Saviour to 
it by a heart-engaging testimony—because I believe 
all in the Holy Ghost. I expect to see villages where 
the respectable people are now opposed to religion, 
the proprietor ungodly, the nominal pastor worldly, 
all that take a lead set against living Christianity 
—to see such villages summoned, disturbed, divided, 
and then re-united, by the subduing of the whole 
population to Christ—because I believe in the Holy 
Ghost. I expect to see cities swept from end to 
end, their manners elevated, their commerce puri¬ 
fied, their politics Christianized, their criminal pop¬ 
ulation reformed, their poor made to feel that they 
dwell among brethren—righteousness in the streets, 
peace in the homes, an altar at every fireside—be¬ 
cause I believe in the Holy Ghost. I expect the 
world to be overflowed with the knowledge of 


308 


THE TONGOE OF FIRE. 


God ; the day to come when no man shall need to 
say to his neighbor, “ Know thou the Lordbut 
when all shall know Him, “ from the least unto the 
greatesteast and west, north and south, uniting 
to praise the name of the one God, and the one 
Mediator—because I believe in the Holy Ghost. 

Unbelief and neglect of prayer generally go to¬ 
gether as preventives of spiritual power. Let all 
of us who are painfully conscious that the results 
just indicated, will never be attained by the instru¬ 
mentality of men, in the condition in which we are, 
simply ask ourselves, How long, how often, how im¬ 
portunately have we waited at the throne of the 
Saviour for the outpouring of the Spirit ? Let our 
closets answer. “ The eyes of the Lamb,” that are 
looking through us now, have noted. O! is it any 
wonder that ofttimes we have been powerless, and 
ofttimes have had but “ a little strength ?” 

Want of true faith and neglect of prayer are sure 
to make place for faith in the instrument, instead 
of in the power. When we are not living near the 
throne, our minds become occupied with questions 
of order, of talent, or of truth; or, if we sink into 
yet a lower state, with questions of facility, or influ¬ 
ence, or wealth. This Church reform will be follow¬ 
ed by great good; the clear development of such or 
such a doctrine would bring us revival; more luster 
or strength of talent in the ministry would insure 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


309 


progress. We only wait the removal of such and 
such hinderances to opeh this door; for the supply 
of pecuniary means, and we shall see good done 
there; or for the accession to the Church of some 
person of influence, and God’s work will prosper 
yonder. Faith is sadly wasted when bestowed on 
such things. Give them their right value—never 
underrate them—place them where God has placed 
them ; but the fact that you trust in them shows 
that your heart is wrong. Wait not for these—for 
the power is not in them—but for the baptism of fire. 

Among the hinderances which will prevent any 
one from having the “ tongue of fire,” none acts 
more directly than any misuse of the “ tongue” it¬ 
self. If the door of the lips be not guarded, if un¬ 
charitable or idle speech be indulged, if political or 
party discussion be permitted to excite heats, if 
foolish “talking or jesting” be a chosen method ot 
display, it is not to be supposed that the same 
tongue will be the medium wherein the sacred fire 
of the Spirit will delight to dwell. Who has ever 
worn at the same time the reputation of a trifler and 
of a man powerful to search consciences ? 

Another fatal hinderance is any kind of sensual in¬ 
dulgence. Whatever gives the least ascendancy to 
the body over the spirit must gradually subdue, and 


310 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


ultimately extinguish the fire in the heart. This ap¬ 
plies to all sloth, to every luxurious habit, every 
artificial appetite, and all the pleasures of the table. 
It is not a little remarkable that while, at the Day 
of Pentecost, the people, on seeing the excitement 
and animation of the Christians, said, “ They are 
filled with new wine,” Paul himself says to us, “ Be 
not drunk with wine, wherein is excess ; but be filled 
with the Spirit.” In both these cases there is a 
suggestion, however indirect, yet unquestionably a 
suggestion of some analogy between the condition 
of being “drunk with wine” and that of being 
“ filled with the Spirit.” 

Nor do we need to seek far for the grounds of 
that analogy. To men of the world wine is a re¬ 
sort when they want something above their natural 
strength of mind or body, and in it they seek three 
things—strength, cheering, and mental elevation. 
Under its influence they will do more work than 
they could otherwise, they will cast off their cares, 
and their mental powers will reach a state which 
they themselves call “ inspiration.” That worldly 
orators, even of the highest reputation, often seek 
in wine such animation of their powers as is neces¬ 
sary to great success, is only too well known. The 
physical tendency to seek elevation in such a source 
can not be even slightly yielded to, without fatally 
affecting the “ tongue of fire,” 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


311 


Every Christian who wishes to retain the life of 
God in his soul, must hold all the enjoyments of the 
table under a strict law of regard to health and to 
temperance. For strength, for cheering, and for 
mental elevation, such as an extraordinary affliction 
or public effort may demand, he must look alone to 
power from on high, to the strength, and comfort, 
and inspiration of the Holy Ghost. The bare idea 
of seeking any of these in w T ine implies a heart al¬ 
ready far fallen into the bondage of the flesh. 
Even without going so far, one may easily pass the 
bounds of moderation, and drink not for health, 
but for pleasure. If the man who drinks to intoxi¬ 
cation is miserable and pitiable, he who has learned 
the bad secret of “ how far he can go,” and who 
even acts upon it, although he may never be drunk, 
is daily intemperate. In one aspect, his social influ¬ 
ence is the most dangerous of all; for, while one 
who totally abstains, and one who drinks under a 
rigid rule of regard for health and moderation, may 
each contend that they are setting the wisest ex¬ 
ample that can be set, and while the drunkard may 
truly say that his very excess is a warning to all 
about him, he who habitually shows that he drinks 
as much as is safe, is a lure and an enticement to 
push indulgence as far as it can be done without 
wreck of character. 


312 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


Another fatal hinderance is what may be called, 
“ aiming at literary effect.” When preaching, 
praying, or any other religious exercise of the 
tongue, is ruled by the idea of composition, it loses 
the character of a Divine gift. Under that idea, 
utterance especially is by the aid of the Holy Spirit. 
With those who look at Christian preaching as an 
•exercise of natural talent, we enter into no discus¬ 
sion. We speak only to those who are seeking the 
“ tongue of fire,” who believe that real Christian 
preaching is effected only by the help of God. To 
them, and to ourselves, we say, that nothing will 
more surely steal away the fire from our sentences 
than anxiety to deliver them just as they were pre¬ 
composed, or to pre-compose them with studious re¬ 
gard to literary grace. Study of style, of words, of 
the force, forms, and laws of language, we of course 
recommend. Efforts on the part of every one to 
gain the best style of which his nature admits—the 
tersest, strongest, clearest, briefest—we equally 
recommend. Seeking, like Bunyan, for “picked 
and packed words,” is the instinct of a teacher 
Even the study of the art of speaking, against 
which the vulgar prejudice is so strong, we would, 
with Wesley and Whitfield, encourage. Mouth¬ 
ing elocutionists may have brought it into dis¬ 
repute, but that is no reason why hundreds of us 
should be maimed in health before mid-life by pub* 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


313 


lie speaking, when we might have done as much 
work, and done it better, without the least injury, 
had we availed ourselves of the science of those 
who have philosophically studied and taught upon 
the voice.* 

While, however, we contend that it is the duty 
of all who take any part in teaching, to labor to 
the uttermost for every qualification helpful to their 
work, two things are to be forever and guardedly 
shut out. The one is, aiming at giving intellectual 
pleasure, instead of producing religious impression; 
the other, being careful about words in the pulpit, 
so as to interfere with dependence upon God for 
utterance. In the study, attention to style ought 
to be with a view, not to beauty, but to power. 
In the pulpit, all thought of style is thought 
wasted, and even worse. The gift of prophesying 

* It is often assumed, that speaking is a natural exercise, 
and therefore, needs no instruction. The word “speaking” 
covers a fallacy. Conversation in a moderate tone, and at short 
intervals, is a natural exercise of the voice; public speaking, 
in an elevated tone, and for an hour together, is an artificial 
one. Except in very rare cases of persons singularly favored 
by nature, this artificial exercise is never performed with the 
ease of the natural one; and how often it impairs, and even 
destroys health, is too notorious to need any mention. Such 
writers as Mr. Cull, and Dr. Rush, show that under proper 
training public speaking may become as easy and as healthy 
for persons of sound organs as singing is; and to the neglect 
of this we owe the loss, in their prime, of many of the best and 
ablest preachers that ever lived. 


314 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


in its very ideal excludes relying for utterance 
upon a manuscript or upon memory. It is the 
delivery of truth by the help of God. The feeling 
of every man standing up in the Lord’s name ought 
to be, “ I am not here to acquit myself well, nor 
to deliver a good discourse ; but after having 
made my best efforts to study and to digest the 
truth, I am here to say just what God may enable 
me to say, to be enlarged or to be straitened, ac¬ 
cording as He may be pleased to give me utterance 
or not.” 

With this feeling of the preacher all appearances 
ought to correspond. It ought to be manifest that, 
while he has done what in him lies to be thoroughly 
furnished, he is trusting for utterance to help from 
above, and not insuring it by natural means—either 
a manuscript or memory. We put these two to¬ 
gether, because we do not see that any distinction 
si-eally exists between them. The plea that the 
manuscript is more honest than memoriter preach¬ 
ing, has some force, but certainly not much; for he 
that reads from his memory is, to the feeling and 
instinct of his hearers, as much reading as he who 
reads from his manuscript. In neither case are the 
thoughts and feelings gushing straight from the 
mind, and clothing themselves as they come. The 
mind is taking up words from paper or from mem¬ 
ory, and doing its best to animate them with feel- 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


315 


ing. Even intellectually, the operation is essen¬ 
tially different from speaking, and the difference is 
felt by all. For literary purposes, for intellectual 
gratification, both have a decided advantage over 
speaking; but for the purposes of pleading, en¬ 
treating, winning, and creating a sense of fellow¬ 
ship, for impelling and arousing, for doing good— 
speaking is the natural, this is the Creator’s, instru¬ 
ment. 

We never say, nor think of saying, that God will 
not bless sermons read, either from the manuscript 
or from the memory; for we are sure that both 
these modes are resorted to by holy and earnest 
servants of His, who seek His blessing, and obtain 
it to the saving of many souls. All we say of read¬ 
ing, either from the manuscript or the memory, is, 
that it is not scriptural preaching. It is not minis¬ 
tering after the mode of Pentecostal Christianity; 
it is a departure from scriptural precedent, an adop¬ 
tion of a lower order of public ministration, and a 
solemn declaration that security of utterance gained 
by natural supports, is preferred over a liability to 
be humiliated by trusting to the help of the Lord. 
It has its clear advantages, and its clear losses. It 
secures a gain of elegance, at the cost of ease—of 
finish, at the cost of freedom—of precision, at that 
of power—and of literary pleasure, at that of relig¬ 
ious impressiveness. 


316 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


A literary ideal of preaching is vicious. Half 
educated people pride themselves on admiring what 
they consider intellectual, or “splendid.” To men 
of real mind, and real education, aiming at literary 
effect is as distasteful, on the one hand, as are traces 
of carelessness, looseness, or vulgarity, on the other. 
Men of great talent or refinement, when speaking 
great truths, under holy inspiration, must be elo¬ 
quent, or pleasing. But an “ intellectual treat” is 
far from being the ideal of preaching. We have 
heard efforts of this kind greatly praised, even by 
aged and venerable ministers, which, when we look 
back upon them, after years have elapsed, we feel 
ought not to have been called sermons at all. They 
were discourses which showed how a certain subject 
could be treated ; but which were never meant to 
do any work. An acute and profound philosopher, 
looking upon the pulpit from the Chair of the His¬ 
torical Professor, treats this point in the following 
remarkable words: 

“Compare, I pray you, gentlemen, the sacred 
eloquence of the sixth century with modern pulpit 
eloquence, even in its most palmy days in the 
seventeenth century. I said just now, that in the 
seventh and eighth centuries the character of liter¬ 
ature had been that it ceased to be a literature— 
that it had become in fact a pow er, that in writing 
and speaking men concerned themselves only with 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


317 


positive and immediate results, that they sought 
neither science nor intellectual pleasure, and that on 
this account the age had produced nothing but ser¬ 
mons or similar works. This fact, which shows 
itself in literature in general, is imprinted upon the 
sermons themselves. Those of modern times have 
a character evidently more literary than practical. 
The orator aspires much more after beauty of lan¬ 
guage, after the intellectual satisfaction of his aud¬ 
itory than to act upon the deeps of their souls, to 
produce real effects, notable reforms, efficacious 
conversions. Nothing of this sort—nothing of the 
literary character in the sermons of which I have 
just been speaking to you; not one thought of ex¬ 
pressing themselves nicely, of combining images 
and ideas with art. The orator goes to the point; 
he wants to do a work; he turns, and turns again in 
the same circle; he has no fear of repetition, of 
familiarity, not even of vulgarity. He speaks 
briefly, but recommences every morning. This is 

NOT SACRED ELOQUENCE; IT IS RELIGIOUS POWER.”* 

Whenever we are tempted to think that fruitful¬ 
ness is only to be looked for in connection with 
superior attainments, the image of Peter preaching 
in Jerusalem, and of that vast multitude in tears 

* Guizot’s “ Eistoire de la Civilisation vol. ii., p. 24. Sixth 
Para Edition 


318 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


before him, should rise into our view. With what 
reverence, not unmixed with sorrow, do we often 
look back on preachers of days now gone, perhaps 
on some whom our own ears have blessed when we 
heard them; but more on those of whose mighty 
voices we have caught fault echoes, sounding in the 
bosoms of hoary men who heard them in their 
youth, and have never ceased to hear them, though 
their tongues have long been silent! When noting 
our own poor efforts; when seeing how tamely the 
precepts of Sinai or the songs of Bethlehem have 
fallen upon men from our lips; seeing that, after our 
closest thinking, we have seemed as those who beat 
the air; that, after seeking converts, we have only 
gained credit; that, when looking for multitudes to 
be seized with the thought, “ What must I do to 
be saved ?” we have only sent them away to dis¬ 
cuss our faults or our merits, with perchance here 
and there a heart touched and contrite;—when 
years have thus passed away, and no stronghold of 
sin brought down, no province completely con 
quered from the Prince of darkness, no great 
awakening to show that there was a power and a 
God in the midst of the Church;—when we have 
seen all this, and much more alike thereto, has not 
our disposition often been to open a calculation as 
to our own abilities and the difficulties before us, 
concluding, on the whole, that such as we need not 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


319 


expect to do things which only the mighty could 
do? How could lips like ours move mankind? 
True, Apostles and Prophets moved them. True, 
Whitfield and Wesley, and hundreds of their co¬ 
adjutors, near to our days, and in our own country, 
moved them. But then they were the wonders of 
their age, the seraphim of earth. But what made 
them seraphim ? They were once no mightier than 
others as to converting souls. Unbaptized with fire, 
or but slightly touched, their tongues might have 
charmed, fascinated, set the world discussing their 
gifts and extolling their abilities; but they would 
never have shot fires into the souls of men, burned 
by which the stolid would roar, and the stoical melt, 
the sedate smite upon his breast, and the corrupt 
cleanse himself “ from all filthiness of the flesh and 
of the spirit.” Perhaps without the baptism of fire 
they would never have gained even the airy fame 
of orators. Their very eloquence may have come 
chiefly from the Spirit of God. At all events, it 
was that fire which raised the orator into the Apos¬ 
tle, and made their words sound as if Christ’s first 
messengers were risen from the dead. 

The spectacle of Peter preaching at Jerusalem 
answers ten thousand arguments of unbelief. Who 
is that Galilean peasant, and who are that group 
beside him ? They are men of like passions with 
ourselves. In nature, in gifts, in early opportuni- 


320 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


ties, they can not be ranked above the average of 
mankind. Even though they have been favored 
with the personal teaching and society of Christ for 
three whole years, they had not, up to this period, 
shown any extraordinary superiority of character. 
They have not been even without faults; they have 
had their disputes among themselves, their unbelief, 
their faint-heartedness, their strifes about the things 
of the world, their “ false brethrenyet are they 
endued with a power of speech which passes all 
previously conceived reach of eloquence. 

Is it rational, when looking up to the Spirit which 
wrought this in them, to doubt whether or not it is 
within His power to baptize His servants now living 
with such a baptism as would change the ordinary 
mto the extraordinary, the feeble into the mighty ? 
Whether is it easier for Him to say, “ Speak with 
many tongues,” or to say, “ I will give thee a mouth 
and wisdom which all thine adversaries shall not be 
able to gainsay or to resist ?” The former He has 
said, and common men at once received the power; 
the latter He has said, and the same common men 
received the power. The former power we do not 
seek; but all of us who have any heart for our Mas¬ 
ter’s service, any real intention to bear a part in the 
battle for the rescue of mankind, do desire in our 
very hearts, yea, long with mournful longing for a 
tongue of fire to tell of the love of the Saviour, and 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


321 


of the woe of sin, in such tones that the dead ear 
shall tingle. Is He not able to give the gift now as 
He gave it then ? Is the distrust of His power in 
this respect, which we find so common; this count¬ 
ing on our own impotence as a life-long companion; 
this speaking of what we ought to expect, as if our 
power must halt where our natural abilities halt; 
this thinking it really humble to expect little or no 
fruit; this thinking it meek to be happy without 
fruit;—is all this a fit answer to the baptism and 
a fit memorial of the tongues of fire ? Do we not 
there see the Spirit answering forever all doubts as 
to what ordinary men can be made, and proclaiming 
to all who would bear a message from God, that if 
they will only wait until they are “ endued with 
power from on high,” the effect which of all others 
will show the working of that power within them 
will be this—that they shall be raised above them¬ 
selves, and made to speak with a mouth and wis¬ 
dom which, all who know them will know, were 
not within their natural enowments or attain¬ 
ments ? 

As TO THE SCALE ON WHICH OUR EXPECTATIONS 
should be framed. In our age invention by aid 
of natural science often seems to leap almost within 
the bounds of the supernatural. The impossibilities 
of our fathers are disappearing, one becoming a 
21 


322 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


traffic and another a pastime. This has produced a 
state of mind in which nothing seems impossible to 
natural science. Concurrently with this has arisen 
a tendency to bring spiritual progress and action 
within natural bounds. We are proud of oui 
knowledge of the laws of the natural kingdom, and 
impatient of any phenomena which can not be 
judged by them. Yet we do not object to judging 
the vegetable kingdom by laws totally different 
from those which we apply to the mineral, and the 
animal by laws totally different from what we apply 
to the vegetable, and the pervasive fluids* by laws 
different from those we apply to any of those three 
kingdoms. To shrink from the marvels of vegetable 
life because they are unaccountable on chemical 
principles, or from those of instinct because they are 
unfathomable mysteries on botanical principles, or 
from those of intellect because they are inexplicable 
by the laws of natural history, or from the mysteries 
of light because they can not be metaphysically an¬ 
alyzed and conditioned, would not be more unrea¬ 
sonable than to shrink from marvels in the spiritual 
kingdom, because they can not be judged by the 
laws of the natural. The supernatural has its own 
laws, and there is a supernatural. 

« 

* Water, air, light, electricity, etc., which can not be conve¬ 
niently classed under any of the three divisions—vegetable, min¬ 
eral, and ani*^l—usually taken to comprise all natural objects. 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


323 


Instead of seeking to keep down spiritual move¬ 
ments to the level of natural explanation, in an age 
when natural marvels reach almost to miracles, we 
ought rather to be impelled to pray that they may 
put on a more striking character of supernatural 
manifestation. To-day more by far is necessary to 
carry into the mind of the multitude a clear convic¬ 
tion, “It is the hand of God,” than was necessary 
in other ages. When men saw few wonders from 
natural science, they readily ascribed each wonder 
to Divine agency; but now that they are accus¬ 
tomed to see them daily, moral wonders must swell 
beyond all pretext of natural explanation, before 
they are felt to be from God. Is our footing firm ? 
Do we stand, or do we tremble ? Is Christianity to 
seat herself in the circle of natural agency, or to 
arise from the dust, and prove that there is a God 
in Israel ? Are we to shrink from things extraor¬ 
dinary ? Are we to be afraid of any thing that 
would make skeptical or prayerless men mock? 
Are we to desire that the Spirit shall use us and 
work in us just to such a degree as will never bring 
a sneer upon us—to pray, as a continental writer 
represents some as meaning , “ Give us of the Holy 
Spirit; but not too much; lest the people should 
say that we are full of new wine ?”* 

To Christianity this is pre-eminently the age of 
* Pasteur Augustin Bost. 


324 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


opportunity. Never before did the world offer to 
her any thing like the same open field as at this 
moment. Even a single century from the present 
time, how much more limited was her access to the 
minds of men ! Within our own favored country a 
zealous preacher would then have been driven away 
from many a sphere, where now he would be hailed. 
On the continent of Europe, the whole of France 
has been opened to the preaching of the word, 
though under some restraints. In Belgium, Sar¬ 
dinia, and other fields, it may now be said, that the 
word of God is not bound. A century ago the 
Chinese empire, the Mahommedan world, and Af¬ 
rica, containing between them such a preponderat¬ 
ing majority of the human race, were all closed 
against the Gospel of Christ. China is open at sev¬ 
eral points. The whole empire of the Mogul is one 
field where opportunity and protection invite the 
evangelist. Turkey itself has been added to the 
spheres wherein he may labor. Around the wild 
shores of Africa, and far into her western, eastern, 
and southern interior, outposts of Christianity have 
been established. Wide realms beyond invite her 
onward. In the South Seas, several regions which 
a hundred years ago had not been made known by 
the voyages of Cook, are now regularly occupied. 
Could the Churches of England and America send 
forth to-morrow a hundred thousand preachers of 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


325 


the Gospel, each one of them might find a sphere, 
already opened by the strong hand of Providence, 
where a century ago none of them, could have come 
without danger. 

The age, if not so remarkable for agency as for 
opportunity, is yet very remarkable in this respect, 
when compared with any that has preceded it. 
While, on the one hand, we may well humble our¬ 
selves that, after so long a lapse of time, Christian 
men are so few, and Christian operations so feeble, 
yet, measuring our own day with that of the gener¬ 
ation that went before us, we may devoutly magnify 
our God. Any one of the three great divisions of 
Christians in England—the Established Church, the 
Methodists, or the Dissenters—can this day furnish 
a number of faithful ministers teaching the truth in 
the fear of God, and wishful to be the instruments 
in saving souls, supported by a number of spirit¬ 
ually-minded laymen ready for every good work, 
such that, could they have been presented to John 
Wesley as the entire force of godly men in the coun¬ 
try, would have made him feel as if the army for the 
whole world’s conquest was already raised. Scot¬ 
land alone could now produce a host of loyal sol¬ 
diers ready and able to wage the Redeemer’s war, 
such as in his day would have appeared to him al¬ 
most sufficient to conclude the conquest. Ireland, 
too, would offer in this respect an amazing advance 


326 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


In France, where, at the conclusion of the great 
Peace, scarcely any earnest preachers could be 
found, they may now be counted by hundreds ; and 
in Germany, notwithstanding all its mists and its 
blights, not a few are growing up in vigor. 

Whether for the direct labors of the pulpit, for 
united movements of enlightenment, or the minis¬ 
tering of gentle relief to the wants of human so¬ 
ciety, never, never did the sun shine upon so much 
agency, so much organization, so much liberty, so 
much earnest effort. Could we indulge ourselves 
by forming our own world, and only think of all 
the good men, good societies, and good works, on 
which the eye may rest, we might rejoice with un¬ 
broken joy, proclaim the full advent of the king¬ 
dom of God, and feel ourselves launched on a be¬ 
nign and brotherly age. But alas ! alas ! the vast 
world rolls on, a turbid and a freezing stream. 
When we look first at our own little land, then at 
the broad earth, we find, for one who fears God and 
works righteousness, there are thousands who for¬ 
get God and work wickedness. Christian agency is 
not, therefore, as some amiable theorists would seem 
to think, chiefly for training those who are born 
Christians, or made Christians in baptism, and who 
need nothing more than Church ordinances, and an 
open heaven when they die. It is an agency raised 
up to carry out the great work of conversion which 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


327 


the Lord has begun within the lands of Christen¬ 
dom, and then bear onward the banner until every 
nation under heaven bows under it. 

It is also an age of progress, as much as of op¬ 
portunity or of agency. What an advance has 
Christianity made, as to the impress upon our na¬ 
tional manners, within the last century! On our 
highest classes and on our lowest, on those who 
love God and those who love Him not, she has im¬ 
posed many restraints. The vices which remain are 
every day made more hideous to the public eye. 
How different the amount of piety in officers and 
men developed by the horrors of the late war, from 
what was ever known in an English army before! 
How different the spiritual condition of many of our 
rural and manufacturing districts from what they 
were a century ago ! What a change in the moral'' 
of the Court, in the temperance of private enter¬ 
tainments ! How much more promising the aspect 
of Ireland! How much more animated the religion 
of Scotland! What an incalculable advance in 
America! And within that time the West Indies, 
Australia, Hew Zealand, the Society Islands, the 
Sandwich Islands, the Friendly Islands, the Navi¬ 
gator’s Islands, a considerable part of Feejee, and 
tracts of Southern and Western Africa, may be 
written down as provinces added to Christendom. 
Though in some of these places much ungodliness 


328 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


remains, yet in most of them a far more promising 
state of things exists than was known in any coun¬ 
try between the first days of Christianity, and the 
last century. 

In other countries, beginnings have been made 
and first-fruits gathered; as, for instance, in India, 
China, and Northern Africa. At the same time, 
every system of religion not calling itself Chris¬ 
tian has decayed. Mohammedanism, Brahmanism, 
Buddhism, and Paganism, have lost territory, adher¬ 
ents, and power. Altogether it may be questioned, 
whether even the progress of the first century has 
not been equaled, as to positive amount, by that of 
the last. But, when we look at the agents, means, 
and facilities enjoyed during the last century com¬ 
pared with the first, and at the rapidity with which 
believers have multiplied themselves in both pe¬ 
riods, we at once feel that, as to propagating 
power, in the face of adverse circumstances and 
small resources, there is no comparison between 
them. 

It is, on the one hand, as wrong and as danger 
ous to overlook the success which God has given to 
His word in the last age, or the unparalleled open 
ings which promise to the Church future conquest, 
as it is, on the other, to repose on our present pos¬ 
sessions, as if the conquest was achieved. What 
has been done is enough to excite our liveliest 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


329 


gratitude; but if we dwell on it alone, we become 
enervated and careless. What remains to be done 
is enough to excite our deepest solicitude; but if 
we look at it alone, we become dispirited and 
powerless. Even in England every thing is stained; 
our commerce corrupt; our politics earthy; our 
social manners chiefly formed after the will of “ the 
god of this world;” our streets crying shame upon 
us ; our hamlets, many of them, dark, ignorant, and 
immoral; our towns debauched and drunken. 

Amid this much good exists, in which we do re¬ 
joice, yea, and will rejoice; but O! the evil, the 
evil is, day by day, breaking thousands of hearts, 
ruining thousands of characters, and destroying 
thousands of souls! Looking abroad beyond the 
one little sphere of Britain and America, which we 
proud boasters of the two nations are prone to look 
upon as being nearly the whole world—though we 
are not one-twentieth of the human race—how 
dreary and how lonely does the soul of the Chris¬ 
tian feel, as it floats, in imagination, over the rest 
of the earth! That Europe, so learned, so splendid, 
so brave—what misery is by its fireside! what stains 
upon its conscience! what superstition, stoicism, or 
despair around its death-beds ! And yonder bright 
old Asia, where the “ tongue of fire” first spoke— 
how rare and how few are the scenes of moral 
beauty which there meet the eye! Instead of the 


330 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


family, the seraglio; instead of religion, supersti¬ 
tion ; instead of peace, oppression; instead of enter¬ 
prise, war; instead of morals, ceremonies ; instead 
of a God, idols ; instead of refinement and growth, 
corruption and collapse: here, there, thinly sown 
and scarcely within sight one of the other, a school, 
a hook, a man of God—one star in a sky of dark¬ 
ness. And poor Africa! what is to become of the 
present generation of her sons ? Thinly around her 
coasts are beginnings of good things; but O! the 
blood and darkness, and woe, the base superstition, 
and the miserable cruelties, under which the major¬ 
ity of her youth are now trained, amid which her 
old men are going down to the grave ! 

All this existed a century ago, but was not then 
known as we know it now. The world is not yet 
explored by the Church, much less occupied; but 
the exploration at least is carried so far, that we 
know its plagues as our fathers knew them not; 
and if our hearts were rightly affected, we should 
weep over them as they never wept; for, al¬ 
though the spread of Christianity has greatly 
multiplied the number of Christians, the increase 
of population has been such, that more men are 
sinning and suffering now, than were a hundred 
years ago. 

Taking the forces of the Church, comparing 
them with the length and breadth of the world, 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


331 


and then asking, “ Are these ever to be the means 
of converting all ?” we feel that only the promise 
of God could inspire such a hope. But that pro¬ 
mise is so confirmed, illustrated, and exalted by the 
success of the past century, that when we look 
back to the few faithful men in this country and in 
America, men in different circumstances and of dif¬ 
ferent views, who then began in earnest to call the 
Churches to their work, and see how far their 
labors and those of their spiritual sons have ad¬ 
vanced the kingdom of Christ beyond where it 
stood then, we are led to say, “ Suppose that all 
the good men, now loving God and desiring His 
glory, were but to be multiplied in equal ratio 
during the next century, as those few have been 
during the last century; what an amazing stride 
would be made toward the conversion of the whole 
world!” 

Is this too much to expect ? Are we to con¬ 
clude, that the force of the animating Spirit is 
spent, and that an age of feebleness must succeed 
to one of power ? To do so is fearfully to disbe¬ 
lieve at once the goodness and the faithfulness of 
our God. Some say that, because populations have 
become familiarized with the truths of the Gospel, 
we are not to expect the same converting effects as 
when those truths were new. If this be so, we 
had better make way for a generation of rationalists 


332 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


and formalists, to prepare the ground again for 
spiritual cultivation! Some say that, because the 
age is so educated, intellectual, scientific, and in¬ 
quisitive, men are not so susceptible of the influence 
of Christianity. Then shall we wait for an age less 
enlightened and less educated ? Some say that the 
age is so unduly active, forcing enterprise and com¬ 
merce to the point of absorbing every man, till 
religion is pushed aside. Must we then wait for a 
duller and more lethargic time ? Some say that 
the Lord does not give us great success lest we 
should be uplifted. Is it His way to promote humil¬ 
ity by giving small results to great agencies, or by 
giving great results to small ones? And would 
not results after the Pentecostal scale make any of 
our agencies seem small? These are miserable 
withs wherewith to bind the giant Church of God. 
Away with them every one! After going round 
all the reasons which one hears ordinarily assigned 
for the greater direct success of Preachers in the 
last century than now, our mind finds rest only in 
that one reason, which carries a world of rebuke 
and of humiliation to ourselves: they produced 
greater effects, simply because of the greater power 
of God within them. 

Every ray of Gospel truth that exists in any man 
is on our side. All intelligence, all intellectual 
activity, all vigor of character, are more for us than 


PRACTICAL lessons. 


333 


their opposites would be. In fact, they are very 
much the fruit, the indirect and secondary fruit, of 
the past triumphs of religion; for it is impossible 
that true godliness shall spread among any people, 
without stimulating their intellectual and social 
energies. It is hard to imagine a satire on the 
Gospel more bitter than that it should be powerful 
when new to men, and impotent when familiar; 
that it should be good for the half barbarous, but 
not for those whom itself had refined; capable of 
captivating the inert, but incapable of commanding 
the masculine and the energetic. We expect ages 
not less instructed in Christian doctrine, but far 
more instructed; not intellectually duller, but more 
active; not darker as to science and literature, but 
inconceivably brighter ; not slower as to invention, 
enterprise, and progress, but more vigorous by far. 
And am I to return to “ the glorious Gospel of the 
blessed God,” whereto I feel that I and mine, my 
kindred, my country, the race from which I have 
sprung, the lands in which I have traveled, are all 
indebted for their purest and brightest things—and 
say to it, “ When these bright ages come, thou 
shalt lag behind, perhaps recollected as one of the 
infantine instructors of the world, but distanced by 
the progress of man ?” Let those who assign 
reasons for our want of fruitfulness which fairly 
sow the seeds of rationalism, prepare to render an 


334 


THE TONGUE OF FIKE. 


account when the fruit of their sowing comes to be 
reaped. 

Thei-e is a natural tendency in any movement to 
lose intensity as it gains surface. When godliness 
becomes the habit of large numbers, it is not ac¬ 
cording to the laws of human nature that it should 
retain, in every individual, all the fervor which it 
must maintain, in order to exist at all, when it is 
the peculiarity of an extremely few. But if this 
fact is to be recognized, it must be remembered 
that the disadvantage which it presents is easily 
overcome by the power of grace; and, indeed, a 
natural counterpoise to this subduing tendency, in 
practical religion, is offered in an equally natural ac¬ 
cumulative tendency. That decrease of distinction 
between the Church and the world which is so often 
noticed, does not wholly arise from the Church be¬ 
coming less Christian, but partly also from the 
world becoming less wicked. The testimony of a 
large number of decided men gradually and silently 
imposes on the world a respect for Christian princi¬ 
ples, till the world tacitly accepts many of its moral 
laws and social standards at the hands of the Church. 
Every concession of this kind is an advantage to 
those Christians who mean to conquer all; while 
it is a seduction to those who repose in the idea of 
converting a small section of the people, leaving the 
rest to live in sin. 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


335 


Put the ungodly in a minority, then vice becomes 
a social as well as a spiritual blemish, and religion 
an outward as well as an inward comfort. As the 
multitude of Christians goes on increasing, there is 
accumulative power of- example, accumulative power 
of teaching, accumulative power of prayers, accu¬ 
mulative power of Christian training in families, ac¬ 
cumulative power of purity in habits, all tending in 
the one direction—to bring the public sentiment 
under the dominion of Christ. Towns and villages 
exist in this country where, within the memory of 
living men, very few godly persons were to be 
found; but now one-tenth, one-seventh, and even 
one-fifth in some cases, of their adult population, 
are professing to follow Christ, and living more or 
less worthily of that profession. Can any man help 
feeling that the unconverted people in such a town 
are much more likely to be converted than those 
living where the proportion of the godly is not 
more than one in a hundred, or one in a thousand ? 
Who could not feel—who would not practically ac¬ 
knowledge the feeling—of the accumulative power 
of Christian progress, if he had to decide in which 
of two towns his unconverted son should settle foi 
life—one with a believer to every thousand of the 
population, or one with a believer to every ten ? 
He would instantly say, “ In the latter place the 
prospects of my son’s conversion are vastly greater 


336 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


than in the other.” What we should feel in an in¬ 
dividual case, we ought to feel on the great scale— 
to gather strength and hope, not feebleness, from 
past successes, and to become especially impatient 
of the continuance of sinners«in those fields where 
notable triumphs of grace have already been achieved. 
What the Canaanites were to the Israelites of old, 
the unconverted dwelling in our towns and villages 
are to us at this day. They confuse and weaken us, 
they allure, they insnare us, they lead our children 
astray, they rob us of the fruit of our schools, they 
damp the zeal of our young converts, they entice 
families into worldly practices, they tempt our 
tradesmen, they infect our churches; and never, 
until they are totally extirpated, can peace and 
righteousness flourish in our coasts. Impatient of 
their obstinacy everywhere, we ought to be espe¬ 
cially so where victories, won by those who have 
preceded us, leave us comparatively little to do: for 
the up-hill fight has been fought, the vantage- 
ground gained, and now for the power to complete 
the triumph! The entire converson of England 
and America, within the next fifty years, would not 
be so great a work for the Christians now existing, 
as the progress made within the last hundred years 
has been for the Christians then existing. Is it 
rational to believe that God will less bless His serv¬ 
ants in this nineteenth century that in the one that 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


337 


is gone, if they be equally faithful ? or that He will 
shower on this generation of ours less marked bene¬ 
dictions than He did on the one to whom we are 
indebted for so much ? 

The single consideration of past progress suffices 
to prove that, on the ground of experience, we are 
not warranted to conclude that the conversion of 
the whole world is impossible. Much as may be 
argued from the slowness of the past progress of 
Christianity, the last century has so changed the as¬ 
pect of affairs as now to cast the weight of the argu¬ 
ment from experience decisively into the scale of 
hope. Many, however, will continue to look upon 
any consistent expectation of the general conversion 
of men as illusory; the objections of some resting 
on their views of the constancy of human nature, 
certain, they think, hereafter as heretofore, to pre¬ 
sent great numbers of unconquerable opponents to 
holiness; while others take higher ground, and be¬ 
lieve that the general conversion of our race is con¬ 
trary to the purpose of God. 

When the question, “Is the conversion of the 
whole world possible ?” is fairly put, the plain an¬ 
swer to it is obviously this: “ It is possible, unless 
it be contrary to the will of God.” If He has or¬ 
dained that it is not to be, an infinite obstacle op 
poses it; if He has not so ordained, the obstacles 
2t2 


338 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


which oppose it are finite, and therefore conquer 
able. Christians can overcome all things but a de¬ 
cree of God. 

Has He, then, given us any declaration that Ho 
does not intend to renew the earth, as a whole, in 
righteousness ? We do not mean to hold any con¬ 
troversy with those who have deliberately adopted 
the view, that the Christian dispensation is a kind 
of interlude between the Lord’s lifetime upon 
earth, and a future earthly reign, meanwhile, bear¬ 
ing witness in His name; a witness, for the conver¬ 
sion of a few, and the condemnation of the many. 
We leave them with the praise of being perfectly 
consistent, in expecting small results from the 
preaching of the Gospel; and with the responsibil¬ 
ity of looking on that Gospel in a light which war¬ 
rants little faith. 

We deal with those who regard the Gospel as 
bond fide “ good news” for every creature—“ good 
news” which those who heard it before me were 
bound to tell to me—“good news” which I am 
bound to tell to every creature living, according to 
the extent of my opportunities—“ good news” 
to the effect that “ the grace of God, which bring- 
eth salvation to all men, hath appeared”—news 
which could not be told to me as good, if it left 
any doubt whether it was or was not for me— 
“ good news” to every creature, “ a Gospel for thee.” 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


339 


We take the first two announcements by a 
preacher under the Christian dispensation, to audi¬ 
ences of sinners, as intended for our instruction and 
imitation: “ Repent, and be baptized every one 
of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remis¬ 
sion of sins;” “ God, having raised up His Son 
Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away 
every one of you from his iniquities.” Declara¬ 
tions less direct, personal, or comprehensive than 
these, we have no manner of authority to deliver. 
We are to “command all men everywhere to re¬ 
pent,” to call upon every one of them to believe, to 
assure every one of them that Christ is “sent to bless 
him in turning him away from his iniquities.” 

Nor are we to make such proclamations under the 
feeling that, although it is our duty to do it, there 
is no intention on the part of God to second our 
testimony and give it effect. Hope in the result 
sustained the Apostle in his work, according to his 
own avowal; for he says, “Therefore we both 
labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the 
living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially 
of those that believe.” This trust in the God and 
Saviour of all was enough to animate any man in 
labor and under reproach; and such a trust we 
should never cast away. 

The question, whether or not the conversions of 
the first ages ought to be looked back to by us, as a 


340 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


standard at which to aim, is settled by one of the 
passages already quoted. After joyfully describing 
the conversion of the Church in Ephesus, where 
“ the word of the Lord” so “ mightily grew and 
prevailed,” St. Paul says, that God has done this, 

“ THAT IN THE AGES TO COME He MIGHT SHOW THE 

exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness 
toward us through Christ Jesus.” We are living in 
what were, then, “ the ages to come.” On us the 
light of those “ exceeding riches of grace” is shin¬ 
ing—shining for our encouragement—shining that 
we may believe that in heathen cities, where great 
Dianas are adored, we also shall see “ the word of 
God mightily grow and prevail,” heathen rites aban¬ 
doned, bad books consumed, and the craft of idol- 
makers destroyed. 

While this collective number of conversions is 
given to us as an encouragement, the most remark¬ 
able of all individual conversions is placed before us 
in the same light. “ Howbeit,” says St. Paul, “ for 
this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus 
Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pat¬ 
tern to them which should hereafter believe on Him 
to life everlasting .” Thus we are deliberately fore¬ 
warned to take the most singular conversion that 
ever occurred in the early Church, not as a dis¬ 
couragement because of its speciality, but as an in¬ 
tentional manifestation of the wonderful grace of 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


^ 841 


the Redeemer, by which every sinner in all ages, 
who would fain 41 find mercy,” may encourage him¬ 
self. The persecutor Paul, converted and forgiven, 
is for a pattern to individual believers in “ the ages 
to come.” The great multitude of “children of 
wrath” in Ephesus who were made to “ sit in heav¬ 
enly places in Christ Jesus,” are also to us, of “ the 
ages to come,” a patterp of the “ exceeding riches 
of grace.” Whether our faith be tried in respect to 
the possibility of the conversion of an individual as 
unlikely as Saul, or of a number as great as the 
Church of Ephesus, in either case we should believe 
that the ancient grace is free and mighty this day. 
Thus trusting in “ God, who is the Saviour of all 
men,” we shall both cheerfully “ labor and suffer re¬ 
proach.” 

The same relation which we have shown to exist 
between hope and labor, is also pointed out to us, 
as existing between hope and prayer. “ I exhort, 
therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, 
intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all 
men.” Here no one doubts that we are literally 
commanded to pray for every human being; but if 
we did not carefully attend to the context, we 
might run away with a vague idea, that we were 
only to pray as an expression of good-will, and that 
for temporal and national blessings, especially as 
allusion is made to “kings, and all that are in 


342 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


authority—that, in fact, the “ prayers, and suppli¬ 
cations, and intercessions, and giving of thanks, for 
all men,” do not mean that we are to pray, suppli¬ 
cate, and intercede, that all men may be saved and 
come to the knowledge of the truth; for that 
would only be asking what God wills should never 
be, and therefore what could not be acceptable to 
Him. But, as if expressly to anticipate this unbe¬ 
lief, the Apostle adds, “ For this is good and ac¬ 
ceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will 
have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowl¬ 
edge of the truth. For there is one God, and one 
Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ 
Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all, a testi¬ 
mony* in due time.” 

Here our encouragement in prayer, supplication, 
and intercession for all men, is grounded first on the 
clear declaration that such prayer is “ good and ac¬ 
ceptable in the sight of God our Saviour—“ our 
Saviour” giving intensity to the expression, as if re¬ 
minding us that He who has saved us, must be one 
to whom it is good and acceptable, that we should 
seek the salvation of all. It is further grounded on 
the express declaration of His will regarding others, 
that He “ will have them to be saved, and to come 
unto the knowledge of the truth.” Here is not 

* We give the marginal reading, which is a literal transla¬ 
tion ; the other is, “to be testified in due time.” 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


343 


only the assurance that we are right in praying that 
they may be saved, but right in praying that the 
truth may be brought to all, and that they may be 
saved through its instrumentality ; praying, in fact, 
for the universal diffusion of Christ’s Gospel, and 
the universal salvation of men in consequence. It 
is further supported on the ground of the unity of 
God, the unity of the Mediator between God and 
men, and the unity of man as regarded by His me¬ 
diating atonement: “ One God, and one Mediator be¬ 
tween God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave 
Himself a ransom for a11, a testimony in due time.” 

We have, then, the clear example of the first 
preachers, the express declaration that the early 
conversions were as a pattern for the ages to come, 
the statement that trust in God as the Saviour of all 
men was the animating strength under apostolic toil 
and shame, the command to pray for all, and the 
most formally stated warrant for such prayers bold¬ 
ly to lay hold upon the promises of God. 

Many who will admit that the scriptural argu¬ 
ment points in this direction, yet, looking at human 
nature, the present condition of mankind, the pro¬ 
portion of Christian agency to population, and the 
past career of man, will, on the whole, conclude 
that the conversion of the world is not to be ex¬ 
pected, They will also ask us how w« can recon- 


344 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


cile such an expectation with the free agency of 
man. We will no further answer them than by re¬ 
calling the fact, that every additional conversion to 
some extent, however slight, changes the condition 
of society, and, in so doing, affects the motives 
which act upon the unconverted, throwing a great¬ 
er weight upon the side of goodness. A few more 
decided advances on the part of the Church, in 
some countries of Christendom, would cast a pre¬ 
ponderating weight of social motives on the side 
of godliness, leaving little to be contended against 
but the natural depravity of man’s heart, which, 
even in the purest condition of society, would be 
enough to demand the most zealous care for the 
conversion of each human being. 

This bears first on the general question of nat¬ 
ural motives, next on the particular one as to rec¬ 
onciling faith, for the general regeneration of men, 
with their free agency. We readily admit that, 
logically, we can not reconcile them, and certainly 
we are not anxious to attempt it. All the diffi¬ 
culties which meet us in soberly expecting the con¬ 
version of the entire world, equally meet us in so¬ 
berly expecting the conversion of an entire family 
Every question of free agency, motives, human na¬ 
ture, past experience, which enters into the one, 
enters into the other, though on a smaller scale. 
But it is only the scale that differs, the elements are 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


345 


the same. Yet who that has felt the fgith and love 
of Christ within him, and has kindred dear to his 
own heart, has not again and again pleaded that 
they might all appear, “ no wanderer lost, a family 
in heaven ?” Who does not feel that to exercise 
faith that such a prayer shall be answered, is good 
and wise, and acceptable to God ? In fact, all the 
difficulty exists as to faith for the conversion of any 
one individual. 

The difference between preaching the Gospel 
with a full expectation of doing no more than sav¬ 
ing small companies of saints from amid multitudes 
of sinners, on whose shipwreck no influence is to be 
exercised beyond holding them a light to sink by, 
and of looking upon every converted man as one 
rescued from a common danger, who is immediately 
to join in rescuing the rest—is such, that in the one 
case, when a little is accomplished, it is looked upon 
as what the Gospel was sent to do; while, in the 
other case, every little is taken as but an earnest of 
the great, and the great as an earnest of the uni¬ 
versal. While we aim at few, we shall win but 
few; for, that our successes shall take their propor 
tions from our faith, is the universal law of the 
service of Christ. 

Should we be wrong in our views—should it be 
contrary to the design of our Lord to convert all 


346 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


our race by tjie preaching of His word, and the out¬ 
pouring of His Spirit—should it be His purpose to 
leave the earth much as it is until He concludes its 
mournful story in thunder-claps of judgment— 
should that consummation be nigh, ana. the last 
trumpet be already beginning to fill with the breath 
of the archangel, yet surely, if we, under the illusion 
of our belief, are found panting, praying, laboring, 
if by any means we might save some, that blast 
might cause us a pang for the multitudes whom it 
found unwarned; but no pang because we had been 
busy in warning, exhorting, entreating; no pang 
because we had done so in faith, that our Lord 
willed all men to come to the knowledge of the 
truth. 

Suppose, on the other hand, that there is even a 
possibility of our being right, that the grace of God 
which has appeared to us really is 41 good tidings” 
for every creature; that the truth so precious to 
our nation and to our own souls is not decreed 
away from any part of the human family by the 
great Saviour above us; that He does mean that 
literally every creature should hear it from the lips 
of His servants, that literally the whole earth 
should be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, 
that literally “ the ages to come” should take the 
early conversions as the type of their expectations, 
and should embrace all men in their supplications 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


34* 


and their labors; should all this be true, and we 
spend our strength in observing the clouds, and the 
judgments, and the trumpets, telling those who are 
calling the nations that they may call, but they will 
accomplish little thereby—as far as in us lies steal¬ 
ing the nerve from their arm and the fire from 
their voice; should we in the midst of this die, and 
find “ ages to come” yet advancing, then, perhaps, 
we might feel as if the Scripture had been neglect¬ 
ed by us, which says, “ He that observeth the wind 
shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds 
shall not reap.” Futurity, judgments, and provi¬ 
dential designs, lie within the unshared province of 
God ; and none need make it his chief concern to 
settle or to ascertain them. A world of sinning and 
suffering men, each one of them my own brother, 
calls on me for work, work, work. I may trust the 
future, and the time of restoring Israel, to better 
hands than mine. 

In hope, or without hope, let us be up and doing. 
Encouragements are on every hand, and so are 
menaces. The enlightened, the true, the zealous, 
are many; the wicked and the slothful are fearfully 
more. The number of the former has been grow¬ 
ing by conversions, the number of the latter grow¬ 
ing faster by the natural increase of population. 
The appliances for Christian propagation are vast; 
the faith of many in their efficacy feeble. The 


348 


THE TONGUE OF F1EE. 


doctrines of Christianity are known and prized by 
multitudes who never knew them before; but, on 
the other hand, there are few of the Churches, in 
the very heart of which those doctrines are not be¬ 
trayed. One would rob us of the incarnation of 
God, another of the Spirit of God, another of an 
atonement, another of providence, another of 
prayer; some of regenerating grace, some of min¬ 
isterial unction, .some of primitive fervor, some of 
a Lord’s day; some would launch us on a sea of 
thought without an inspired guide ; others on a 
moral universe without punishment for wrong ; 
thus nearly every truth that distinguishes the sys¬ 
tem of Christianity from earthly inventions, is at¬ 
tacked by mining or by battery. We are not sure 
but truth is sometimes spoken when little good 
ensues; we are sure that error is never issued into 
the world without doing harm ; and there are 
strong men now doing work over which, unless 
others, made stronger by the might of God, undo 
it, generations to come will have reason to weep. 
For all who can not bear to see the Cross betrayed, 
the Holy Ghost grieved, the oracles of God de¬ 
graded, the work of the Spirit in the human soul 
reduced to a process of motives and emotions, and 
every Divine tie that connects us, as a redeemed 
race, with a redeeming Father, skillfully cut asunder; 
—for those who are not prepared to see the 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


349 


Churches of England and America pass through 
blights such as have befallen the Churches of Swit¬ 
zerland, Germany, and other Protestant regions of 
the Continent, this is a moment when the air seems 
full of trumpet-notes, when every step taken on 
doctrinal ground raises the echo of warning. And, 
alas! many who dogmatically repel error evaporate 
in intellectualism; others decay, under a silvered 
mildew of respectability; and others, professing to 
seek the old Christianity, content themselves with 
garnishing the sepulcher in which the Middle Ages 
buried her, instead of seeking that her first preach¬ 
ers, in the persons of other men, but in the “ spirit 
and power” of Peters and Pauls, should be raised 
up once more! 

We will bless every laborer for any service done 
toward the maintenance and advance of the truth, 
for every good word spoken, every sound argument 
uttered from the pulpit, every page of evangelical 
truth written, and every rebuke administered in 
any way to those who would falsify our faith; but, 
let them be assured that more than all other 
services, turning many away from iniquity will 
counterwork and confound attempts to reduce 
Christianity from a Divine to a human system. 
This is the practical answer to difficulties and 
objections. Let us only have multitudes of new 
born Christians, fervent in faith and hope, full of 


350 


THE TONGUE OF FIKE. 


love and of good works, and rationalists may ac¬ 
count for the phenomenon as they will; but the 
common conscience of mankind will feel that 
God is in it. “ Beholding the man which was 
healed standing with them, they could say nothing 
against it.” 

The one reason for being zealous for Christian 
doctrine which so far surpasses all others that beside 
it they become as nothing, is that given by St. 
Paul to Timothy: “Take heed unto thyself, and 
unto the doctrine ; continue in them: for in doing 
this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that 
hear thee.” What a motive! Saving, first, our¬ 
selves—then, those that hear us: the sublime can 
go no further! Here we have set before our hearts, 
soliciting us onward, motives which we acknowledge 
have already moved the very heart of the Godhead. 
To save! as an instrument, it is true; but O, how 
infinitely glorious, even as an instrument, to save ! 
and that, not only ourselves, but others! While, 
on the one hand, guarding “ the doctrine” is the 
only means of retaining saving power in the Church; 
on the other, no guard upon the doctrine will ever 
be effectual unless we can raise up a succession of 
saved men. 

Creeds, Catechisms, Confessions, are not to be 
treated as is now the fashion in many quarters to 
treat them; but, when kept in their proper place, 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


351 


as human and fallible, and strong only when they 
accord with God’s holy oracles, have a high utility. 
But the idea of relying upon these for conserving 
the truth in any Church, is as well-founded as would 
be the idea of relying on a good military code for 
defending a nation. An army of cowards would 
interpret any code down to their own level, and 
Churches and unconverted men will equally lower 
any confession of faith. For rescuing souls, for 
rebuking blasphemy, for building up God’s holy 
Church, for glorifying the Saviour’s name on earth, 
for our own joy and crown of rejoicing, for the 
bliss of covering a multitude of sins, for the eternal 
delight of having saved a soul from death, let us 
aim at one work—bringing sinners from dark¬ 
ness to light. Of all the records of praise which 
our merciful Lord will give His servants, who 
would not most covet that his record should be ?— 
“ The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity 
was not found in his lips. He walked with Me in 
peace and equity, and did turn many away from 
iniquity !” 

Ye that are lights and fathers in the ministry, 
whose very name is a power, whose tone decides 
that of many young evangelists, whose standard of 
faith and success regulates the practical expectations 
of many humble Christians—O, show us the way 
to victory, lead us to downright conquests ovei 


352 


THE TONGUE OF FIRE. 


this cold and sinful world! What if, ere ye go 
hence, ye should leave to your successors a glorious 
tradition of multitudes broken under the power of 
the word, of notorious sinners suddenly transformed 
into bright examples of grace, of throngs of in¬ 
quirers asking the way to heaven with tears, of 
Churches once dying easily, roused, through your 
instrumentality, to apostolic zeal ? If ye but leave 
behind you such traditions to be told, and told 
again, to children, and to children’s children, your 
“tongue of fire” will be multiplying itself in the 
homesteads of your people, when your voice has 
long been silent; and the fruit of your labor will go 
on propagating itself, until the trump of the arch¬ 
angel sounds. 

Ye who are but entering on the work of th*e 
ministry, or are as yet young in its ranks, choose, 
among all those who have gone before you, whose 
fame you would prefer. Take the host of those 
who have trifled with the Cross, with inspiration, 
with the fall and the redemption of man, with the 
work of the Spirit, or any of the other vital doc¬ 
trines of our religion ; and if you find among them 
one man whose name, after ages, is dear to a nation, 
sacred in the homesteads of thousands to whose 
ancestors he was a blessing—then follow him. If 
you find among those who gave themselves to 
intellectual pleasures, and were above the plain 


PRACTICAL LESSONS. 


353 


rough work of revivals and awakenings, one who 
has left a memory which is to this day blessed, rais¬ 
ing up even now spiritual children to perpetuate 
his fruits to other generations—you may follow 
him. But surely you would never think of follow¬ 
ing in the track of those whose labors have been 
succeeded by a blight, or whose names, if remem¬ 
bered at all, are remembered, not as a blessing to 
the world, but simply as an example of talent ? 
Surely you would wish rather to be one of those 
whom grandsires shall speak of, to their grand¬ 
children, as having been the means of saving such 
a man, of kindling such a revival, of introducing a 
new religious era into the history of such a village, 
or of first carrying the Gospel to some people to 
whom Christ was a stranger? You will find that 
all those upon whose memories the blessings of liv¬ 
ing men rest, were those who most gave themselves 
to accomplish the salvation of sinners, who gloried 
in the Cross, who trusted in the Holy Ghost, and 
who, whether their tongue was that of a Boanerges, 
or that of a Barnabas, ever took care, by solitary 
waiting before the Redeemer’s throne, to have it so 
imbued with the Holy Ghost, that it was, at least, a 
“tongue of fire.” 

We do not feel that we have said what we had 
to say. In looking over this little book, we can 

23 


354 


THE TONGUE OF FIEE. 


hardly believe that it is all that the feelings 
and thoughts with which we began it have pro¬ 
duced. But, such as it is, let it go out to the world, 
to be rebuked where it errs, to be unheeded where 
it is feeble, to be blessed where it is true and 
strong. 

And now, adorable Spirit, proceeding from 
the Father and the Son, descend upon all the 
Churches, renew the Pentecost in this our age, 
and baptize Thy people generally—O, baptize them 
yet again with tongues of fire ! Crown this nine¬ 
teenth century with a revival of “ pure and unde¬ 
filed religion” greater than that of the last century, 
greater than that of the first, greater than any 
“ demonstration of the Spirit” ever yet vouchsafed 
to men! 


THE END. 











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